Best Director
Current predictions:
- Martin Scorsese (The Departed)
- Alejandro Gonzales Innaritu (Babel)
- Stephen Frears (The Queen)
- Clint Eastwood (Letters from Iwo Jima)
- Paul Greengrass (United 93)
The only sure nominee is Scorsese. Innaritu is liked and his movie is strong; Frears did a good job but is mostly coat-tailing Helen Mirren so his position is uncertain. Everybody loves Clint and they might not be tired of him. Then there's Greengrass, Condon, Almodovar or the Miss Sunshine duo.
Martin Scorsese (The Departed)
Third time may be a charm for him. Wait, that was only in the last 5 years. Make that 8th time. He will surely get nominated.
Alejandro Gonzales Innaritu (Babel)
In a race that has only one certain name, I need some more certainty and I will go with Innaritu for another almost sure nomination. It would be his first and he very well deserved it for Amores Perros or 21 Grams.
Stephen Frears (The Queen)
He is well liked, is British, the movie is acclaimed (although mostly for Helen Mirren), but the DGA also nominated him.
Clint Eastwood (Letters from Iwo Jima)
Everybody loves Clint. And he really does great work. The fact that he was omni-present in the last few years may turn some away, but yet he came with two strong movies this year. So any who is inclined to ignore him based on "enough nominations and wins" cannot do so because of "but he did 2 movies!". And since Iwo Jima gets the most appreciation, Clint will get another boost to his confidence.
Paul Greengrass (United 93)
Will many feel the need to honor the 9/11 movies? Or is Hollywood adept of the conspiracy theories? Greengrass did a great movie and is less controversial than Oliver Stone. He could sneak ahead of the "musical director" or the "duo".
Bill Condon (Dreamgirls)
The DGA has a decent track record at matching Director nominees. So leaving out 2 of the 5 seems a bit brazen to me. Condon is well recognized as a writer (Chicago and Gods and Monsters being his previous nominations), but he also got good directorial buzz for Kinsey a few years back. I see a toss-up between him and Greengrass.
Johnathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine)
Let me be narrow-minded here and say: How do you get two directors? There aren't two captains on a ship! However, they did pull off one of the best gems of the year and, while they didn't get nominated for direction by many, they did get a DGA nod.
Pedro Almodovar (Volver)
He did pull it off a few years ago with Talk to her. Can he do it again, or foreign film will be enough recognition? I would not be surprised at all if he is nominated, but predicting him... is a bit risky.
Guillermo del Torro (Pan's Labyrinth)
Surely a tour de force, but will it be enough for a nomination coming from a foreign film?
Todd Field (Little Children)
I wasn't impressed with the movie, but I can see why others could be. Field is a gifted director and I was in agreement with the Academy, among the fans of his previous movie In the Bedroom.
Who else?
Alfonso Cuaron is lauded for Children of Men but I don't see any chance of a nomination. Robert Altman (A Prairie Home Companion)... just because he is Robert Altman.
Posted on January 19, 2007 09:20 PM