It looks like Director Race is going to come down to Boyle vs Fincher. Who do you think is going to prevail?

I am thinking Danny Boyle is clear leader?

Danny Boyle has several critics' awards to his name already which should give him the edge. Fincher needs to win the Golden Globe to bring him back into the race but even if the GG's give "Benjamin Button" best picture I still think Danny Boyle will win best director. So, I personally think Danny Boyle is well ahead.

If "Milk" ends up competitive for best picture than Gus Van Sant may end up being bigger competition than Fincher but even if "Milk" wins best picture (could win best picture, actor and original screenplay) I would still expect Danny Boyle to win best director.

NOT that I am saying that these will be the five nominees (only SM and probably CC are near sure things), but of those most often mentioned -

Milk, SM, CC - the director is not a producer

DK - director is a producer

F/N - director is a producer, but is one of four, so the Academy would have to review to see if he can be listed

So among the 2 or 3 leading contenders, if there is a Picture/Director split, the director of the best picture would not get an Oscar.

Hard to imagine SM or CC winning and Boyle and Fincher going home emptyhanded.

IA that Danny Boyle has the momentum right now with winning a vast majority of the Critics awards. But we all know those mean nothing at the end of the day where The Academy is concerned.

It would be very interesting how DGA's vote goes to. I can see them awarding Danny Boyle but at this point, I don't that's set in stone yet.

For the longest time, I have been wanting Fincher to be nominated for Best Director. Last year, I was certain he would make it in for what was ultimately the biggest (and utterly preposterous) shut-out of last year, Zodiac. This year, I thought Benjamin Button would get him the gold.

But now I'm starting to hear rumors of his bad reputation (Seanflynn, maybe you could enlighten me as to why). I wasn't aware of anything other than his nonchalant approach to his craft, such as when a girl asked him what his motivation was for a certain plot development, he replied, "I thought it would look cool."

Still, even if Danny Boyle takes this one, I do not think that that seals Best Picture in place at all. In fact, I think there's a very high probability between Picture and Director. Milk, Slumdog, and Button all could possibly nab the top spot, even if Boyle does get the Director award.

I'll keep pushing for Fincher, but something tells me he might be written off.

I was just repeating what Nikki Finke wrote recently; not sure what the basis of that is.

A lot of directors - particularly the relatively young ones (PTA, Fincher, Bryan Singer more recently, David O. Russell) seem to lack the social skills that directors had when this town was more of a community. Also, when you only make a film once every three years (as if often the case) rather than 2 or more a year (which was traditionally a case), each film becomes more of a big deal and can make directors focus on it to the exclusion of being seen as team players.

For now, I will say that Danny Boyle is the favorite to win.

quote:

Originally posted by seanflynn:
A lot of directors - particularly the relatively young ones (PTA, Fincher, Bryan Singer more recently, David O. Russell) seem to lack the social skills that directors had when this town was more of a community.

This is not surprising to me in the least.

Actually, I think this problem will persist as the years go on.

When I was in college, a lot of my fellow film production majors lacked social skills.

Deplorably, it is starting to look more and more like The Dark Knight will sweep the Oscars, in which case it might spill over into the director race as well.

For me, the issue isn't TDK's genre but that there are no other films of any type esp. an almighty art-house hit to challenge this overbearing 500-million-pound box-office thug...

Let me be the first to say 2008 will be considered a sh*t year for film if The Dark Knight is the best it had to offer...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Pucifer,

i really think Best Picture and Best Director will go together this year.

i just thought it would be good for Gus Van Sant to win the Best Director because of the film's chances of getting the Best Picture.

the same for Slumdog Millionaire. if Boyle wins, then the BP also.

Curious Case of Benjamin Button will not win Best Picture so i think, Fincher will not either.

Okay, I just watched Slumdog Millionaire and I've got to say that I don't think this race is over. It's far from being over. Was the film great? Yes. But I, personally, didn't like Danny Boyle's frentic camera movements because it became very jarring at times. But that's my personal taste.

I don't know how The Academy will view these films and judge them accordingly. I don't know what will be their ultimate criteria in judging Best Director.

I would rather see David Fincher or even Chris Nolan get the prize.

Of these two, Danny Boyle has the edge for now; but I am holding out for David Fincher winning for directing that adapted screenplay by that "obscure" genius-writer F Scott Fitzgerald, who had the balls to coin a short inventive story about life, and loss. Fincher did a great job.

As of right now it looks like Best Director is really between these 2. I also give Boyle the edge right now and I'm starting to think Slumdog wins Picture and Boyle wins Director.

Arguably, for the last three years the Directing Oscar has been an acknowledgement award for a lasting and large contribution to cinema (Coens, Scorcese, Lee). If this trend continues, I can see Gus van Sant getting the award (particularly if they want to reward MILK but bypass Sean Penn because he's won one recently), rather than award one of the wunderkinds from the 90s. In fact, I think Boyle, Fincher and Nolan may even split the vote enough for van Sant to romp in.

Actually, that is my current prediction: van Sant for Best Director. And therefore a Picture/Director split (haven't decided which yet, but will go for TCCOBB for now, because I just can't bring myself to think that SM may take it out).

quote:

Originally posted by Wellington Sludge:
Arguably, for the last three years the Directing Oscar has been an acknowledgement award for a lasting and large contribution to cinema (Coens, Scorcese, Lee). If this trend continues, I can see Gus van Sant getting the award (particularly if they want to reward MILK but bypass Sean Penn because he's won one recently), rather than award one of the wunderkinds from the 90s. In fact, I think Boyle, Fincher and Nolan may even split the vote enough for van Sant to romp in.

Actually, that is my current prediction: van Sant for Best Director. And therefore a Picture/Director split (haven't decided which yet, but will go for TCCOBB for now, because I just can't bring myself to think that SM may take it out).

I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels that way. Not that Danny Boyle hasn't done some fine work, but it doesn't have the same feel that awarding the Coens, Scorcese, and Lee have. I don't see a first time nominee winning just like if Fincher or Nolan probably won't win on their first tries this year, so I think it might go to the only person whose been nominated in the category before, Van Sant. (This is presuming of course that someone like Ron Howard is left out, and rookies like Andrew Stanton or Darren Arronofsky make it in that spot that usually never matches up with Best Picture.)

Of course, first time nominees have won in this category before, but in this decade, it has happened infrequently and even with the directors who won on their first times being nominated this decade, both had been working a long time in Hollywood. With Steven Soderbergh, he was nominated twice in that category when he won which made it pretty hard to ignore him especially as he had been toiling away in Hollywood for quite some time, and with Ron Howard, he just missed with Apollo 13, and it felt like it was finally his time to win his Oscar.

Boyle just seems too much of a outsider to win on his first try (although I'm not really sure how much of a Hollywood outsider he is, he just feels like an outsider compared to the other possible nominees like Fincher, Nolan, possibly Howard, and Van Sant), and there's also the rumors about him actually being a co-director. Those rumors haven't hurt him at all yet, but I'm sure if Slumdog Millionaire contiunes to be the frontrunner that it will become a bigger issue in the campaign.

On the other hand though, the Academy doesn't seem to do the Best Picture/Best Director split that often, and if they really love Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle will most likely win. I'm just weary of calling him a lock for the win just yet.

I don't think Van Sant has enough general admiration from the indurstry to be comparable to Scorcese, the Coens or even Lee. And lee's movie was the BP frontrunner, and he was practically in frontrunner status for "Crouching Tiger." Besides "Good Will Hunting" (which imo hasn't aged well) Van Sant has done divisive and auteur work that hasn't been accepted by the masses. He can hardly be compared to the aforementioned men.