It has been over a month since I last updated my 2012 Oscar predictions for the Best Director category and even though it looks as if I will be seeing a couple of unseen major contenders next week I just couldn’t let my current predictions remain so stale and in light of recent events some shuffling needed to be done.
First off, Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) remains my front-runner. No one has made a large enough bid to knock him off the top spot yet, though the next few weeks could certainly change that status.
In second I have Alexander Payne with The Descendants, a film that has done quite well at the box-office, is well-reviewed and could sit well with Academy members, garnering attention in several categories. It’s also a film that reminds us of what it means to watch the delicate and balanced work of Alexander Payne. However, as much as Payne could make a bid for the win, he could just as easily slip down the line. The Descendants is looking to be a major player in several categories, but if it slips in the Best Picture race it could also mean a slide for Director.
For Payne to be in second, it meant he had to leap-frog Steven Spielberg, whom I’ve dropped a spot primarily because War Horse appears to be a film that will rack up a bunch of nominations, but may end up going home with one, two, or potentially none.
The biggest leap in this update shows you just how long it has been since I updated my rankings as Martin Scorsese moves from my #12 slot to #4 for Hugo, which was just named by the National Board of Review as the Best Film of 2011, but even more importantly, Scorsese was also named Best Director. The film has performed well in its first nine days, playing in no more than 1,840 theaters during that time and hauling in $17.5 million domestically. Should audiences continue to embrace Hugo it could potentially climb even higher in several other races as well.
In fifth I have Stephen Daldry for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Considering Daldry has been nominated for Best Director for all three of his feature film releases there is absolutely no reason to believe his latest effort won’t end with the same result.
With that said, I urge you to click here to check out the rest of my rankings as I am sure many of you will disagree with the director I have in my #6 slot, but I am going to tell you right now, that is a film that could very easily end up with several top category nominations. Other than that, my top five are directly below and look for updated Best Actor and Supporting Actor predictions on Monday next week.
- Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
- Alexander Payne (The Descendants)
- Steven Spielberg (War Horse)
- Martin Scorsese (Hugo)
- Stephen Daldry (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)
