The quiet intensity of There Will Be Blood’s Paul Thomas Anderson, the quirky crime drama sensibilities of No Country for Old Men’s Joel and Ethan Coen, the idiosyncrasies of Sweeney Todd’s Tim Burton … this year’s lineup of directors vying for Oscar nods is wide open to the possibilities.
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
Anderson’s filmmaking style was described succinctly by the Dallas Morning News whey they said, “Remorse, regret and redemption, played out in a family or surrogate-family setting, have been key elements in all three of Mr. Anderson‘s films [Boogie Nights, Magnolia and Punch-Drunk Love]. The stakes get higher, and the canvas grows wider, with each one.” Nothing could be truer of Anderson’s latest opus There Will Be Blood, the wunderkind writer/director’s most ambitious film to date. Anderson tackles the big themes in the early days of the oil business in California, as seen through the greedy, ruthless eyes of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis). But Anderson’s techniques allows the action to unfold via intimate moments onscreen. If not now, he should certainly win an Oscar at some point in his career.
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Tim Burton, Sweeney Todd
Burton could be looking at his first nod for Best Director, but the innovative filmmaker has certainly deserved one in years past. Films such as Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood–heck, even Charlie and the Chocolate Factory–all highlight Burton’s enormous, albeit decidedly darker, imagination. Let’s just say Burton has never been Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences material–until now. With Sweeney Todd, the Stephen Sondheim musical about a vengeful throat-slitting barber, Burton–and along with his muse, Johnny Depp–creates a unique vision of the operatic tale, complete with ashy hues, wild costumes and buckets of blood. And the musical-lovin’ Academy should eat it up this time around, recognizing Burton for his work.
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Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
This could be Coen brothers’ year. Like Tim Burton, they, too, have a track record of idiosyncratic films the Academy have yet to reward with the big Oscars. Fargo nearly made it but not quite (the boys only won an Oscar for screenplay). But with their latest crime drama No Country for Old Men, the Coens could win the whole shebang. No Country follows along the same lines we’ve come to expect from the Coen boys–taut, violent but darkly comical–as they bring out top-notch performances from their actors, including Josh Brolin as the hapless Texan who finds himself in heaps of trouble with one cold-hearted assassin, played by Javier Bardem. It just might be one of those “body of work” kind of year at the Oscars for Joel and Ethan–and deservedly so.
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Sidney Lumet, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
Lumet is an expert in train-wreck crime dramas, having served up such classics as Dog Day Afternoon and other incredible efforts such as Network and The Verdict. He’s also directed 17 different actors in their Oscar-winning performances–and yet the Academy Award for Best Director has so far eluded him. Funny how it always works out that way. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is right up his alley–a story about a dysfunctional family and a small crime that turns horribly wrong–and he spins it with all the experience and professionalism he has at his fingertips. This might be the 83-year-old veteran helmer’s last chance to win the award, so let’s root for that nomination!
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Mike Nichols, Charlie Wilson’s War
Nichols is another excellent actors’ director, mostly because he innately understands how to frame his actors’ conversations onscreen. All his films emphasize the words rather than the picture–from The Graduate (his only win for Best Director) to Silkwood to Closer–and Charlie Wilson’s War is no exception. Fueled by Aaron Sorkin’s serio-comical, fast-paced script about a real-life congressman whose covert dealings helped Afghanistan shove out the Soviet Union in the early ‘80s, Nichols easily guides actors Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman into award-worthy performances. Maybe the 76-year-old Nichols will get passed up this year, but we can look forward to more chances for him to win again.
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Sean Penn, Into the Wild
Penn has recently said he enjoys directing much more than acting; it shows with his latest directorial effort, the amazingly beautiful and tranquil Into the Wild. Based on the true story of Christopher McCandless, a 22-year-old college grad who gave up his wealth and privilege in 1992 to traverse the country and live in the wilderness of Alaska, Penn lets us soak in all the natural beauty, as McCandless (played with a quiet determination by Emile Hirsch) stops to interact with a diversity of people along the way. Through his previous films (The Indian Runner, The Pledge, Crossing Guard) Penn has matured in his work behind the camera, and if he decides to give up acting all together, you can look at as not losing an actor but gaining a great director.
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Jason Reitman, Juno
Reitman has the unenviable label of being the son of a famous director (Ivan Reitman), but he is steadily making a name for himself all on his own. His freshman feature film, Thank You for Smoking, proves he has a handle on witty social commentary, but in taking ownership of Diablo Cody’s searingly funny script Juno, about a pregnant teen’s journey from conception to birth, Reitman shines. Like Mike Nichols, he knows where the funny comes from and sets his actors up in way to best complement them and accentuate the dialogue. While this might be more a Ellen Page (as the lead character, Juno) and/or Diablo Cody-kind of year (first-time screenwriter, former stripper et. al.), look for Reitman’s name at some point on the Best Director roster.
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Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Prior to establishing his film career, the gregarious Schnabel made a name for himself as an artist/painter, which explains a lot about his directing techniques. Schnabel made the transition to director with biopics Basquiat in 1996, followed by Before Night Falls in 2000, and with each, he paints a certain kind of canvas. The same goes for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Schnabel’s latest biopic about magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who was left paralyzed at age 43 by a stroke. By experiencing everything Bauby sees through his one good eye, Schnabel’s approach allows us to have a greater understanding and appreciation of what Bauby’s experiencing. A true tour-de-force effort which may give the international director his first nod.
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Ridley Scott, American Gangster
Another veteran up for consideration, Scott rarely disappoints when he sinks his teeth into something. Nominated three times before for Best Director for Black Hawk Down, Gladiator and Thelma & Louise, Scott knows how to take a mainstream film and give it a personal touch. With the gritty, urban ‘70s drama American Gangster, he displays unforeseen versatility. Nothing feels inauthentic here, from the look of Vietnam-era New York City and its inhabitants to the documentary-style feel of the sparse action, and it’s a surprisingly restrained effort from Scott that allows for such realism. Plus, he makes Denzel Washington’s powerful drug lord seem almost sympathetic. Again, this may not be his year, but a “body of work” Oscar is imminent.
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Joe Wright, Atonement
With an adaptation of Pride & Prejudice and now Atonement, Wright may have just established himself as the new king of the sweeping period films, a James Ivory on the rise, so to speak. Wright does some truly amazing things with the camera in Atonement, including a long, continuous shot of the historical Dunkirk–a French beach on which thousands of WWII British soldiers were forced by the Germans and then waited to be evacuated; the scene leaves you stunned with the surrealism of it. If Wright doesn’t get a nomination for Best Director, my faith might be lost.
Honorable Mentions: Marc Forster, The Kite Runner; Tamara Jenkins, The Savages
