Will this year's Best Director Oscar race be the most diverse ever?
Friday, November 24, 2017 at 9:50PM by Nathaniel R
from left to right: del Toro, Guadagnino, Wright, Peele, Jenkins, Rees, Nolan, McDonagh, Aronofsky, Baker, Spielberg, Gerwig, Scott, Bigelow, Coppola, Villeneuve
While I was updating the Oscar charts for Picture and Director it occurred to me that the Academy's directing branch could well come up with their most diverse shortlist ever. Generally speaking when the Best Director lineup has had some variations from its usual five middle aged white American directors it's been with older white European auteurs. But in the past twelve years things have been shifting for that category quite a lot despite frequent complaints that they aren't changing at all. Or at least that they're not changing fast enough.
Consider that the following things have all happened in the past twelve Oscar races:
- Ang Lee became the first Asian to win Best Director (2005)
- Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win Best Director (2009)
- Ang Lee became the first Asian to win Best Director twice (2012)
- Alfonso Cuarón became the first Latin American to win Best Director (2013)
- Alejandro G Iñárritu became the first Latin American to win Best Director twice (2014/2015)
- Lee Daniels, Steve McQueen, and Barry Jenkins were all nominated (2009-2016) quadrupling the number of black men nominated in that category's history! (Before them there had only been John Singleton for Boyz n the Hood)
In fact only three American-born men have won this category in the past 12 years (the Coens, Scorsese and Damien Chazelle) so things are changing... or at least globalizing.
Kathryn Bigelow (Detroit) is the only female winner of the Best Director Oscar. No female director has been nominated more than once for the prize. She was famously expected to be nominated a second time (but wasn't) for Zero Dark Thirty.
While it's too early really to know who will be nominated for Best Director this year, let alone win, it's worth celebrating that it's been such a great year for female directors and directors of color, both in Oscar's purview and well beyond it. As such if you look at the people still standing as hopefuls in that category -- it's generous to list 16 people in the grid above, I know but all of them have either already won awards, are still being discussed, or are still campaigning -- it's remarkably diverse. Two black directors, one Mexican director, and 5 of the 16 are women! The latter is particularly remarkable if you compare it to past years or even to current statistics about how few female directors get hired for motion picture directing in Hollywood.
Sadly, all five women might be at significant disadvantage: Patty Jenkins directed a superhero movie, Sofia Coppola's movie wasn't as well regarded in release as it was at Cannes, Dee Rees's epic has the Netflix problem of feeling like a TV movie to the industry because of the company's anti-theatrical stance, and Kathryn Bigelow's movie flopped in release and is divisive on top of that. Finally Greta Gerwig is working in a subgenre Oscar rarely respects (high school coming of age) and the Spirits ignored her in directing which might be a bad sign since they loved the picture. But, that said, this is progress that so many women are in the mix. I think it's the most we've ever seen this late in the game and we'll take that as a wonderful sign for the future!
Jordan Peele directing Betty Gabriel in Get Out
Even if the directing branch chooses an all male list again it's likely to be more diverse than usual (hi Del Toro and Peele!) and could accidentally end up looking like the foreign film category with multiple countries representing (US, UK, Mexico, and Italy all looking formidable at the moment).
Reader Comments (36)
Well, Del Toro may be Mexican but he is very much a white Caucasian person. If you don't see any diversity in a nomination to, let's say, Tom Hooper, you shouldn't see diversity in his case either. You know, there are white people in Latin America!
Slightly OT: In spite of its genre, I think if Cult of Chucky hadn't gone straight to DVD, we'd be seeing Jennifer Tilly being debated for a Supporting Actress nomination for it. I've seen all four of her bows as Tiffany Valentine, and I'd absolutely argue she's nomination worthy in the appropriate category every time. (Lead in Bride and Seed, Limited/Cameo in Curse, Supporting in Cult.) Also: I'd argue the "Dark Universe" imprint idea might have worked better if the first film was something like "Chucky vs. Dracula" instead of "Tom Cruise Action Movie #545".
@cal roth Del Toro is definitely a white passing Latino, but still Latino. The language barrier alone makes him a very different case than Hooper, even if his white passing identity. It's funny cause cases like his highlight how oddly whiteness works as an identity. Anyways, not going to debate a whole spchiel here. Comparing him to Hooper is apples vs. oranges.
I'm rooting hard for Gerwig now. She seems the one lady with a real shot. Having a lineup with her, Del Toro and Peele (all also far more deserving than Wright or Nolan) would be fabulous.
What is Latino? He's white. He is not white passing. Latin America was colonized by Europeans just like USA, and some descendants never mixed with Native Americans and Blacks. If this people is considered white in America, why wouldn't they be white if they were born in Latin America.
Please - a nomination for him doesn't represent diversity at all. He is a white man.
On the language barrier you could compare him to Denis Villeneuve, for example. Still white.
Del Toro is a white man plain and simple. He’s a white Latino. Nothing progressive there.
American has a prejudice against Hispanic people (Latin American and Spainish). The Spanish language, accents, and names stigmatizes the most white looking Latinos and Spaniards stateside. When we have conversations about race, ethnicity, and diversity we're using the American racial caste system. It can be arbitrary and strange. For example no one thinks of East Indian people as Asian despite India being an Asian country.
So Mexicans regardless of their physical appearance stateside are looked at as equivalent to their darker counterparts. Unless you're Martin Sheen (who did everything to erase his Latin heritage for a Hollywood career). Other white Latinos include Cameron Diaz and Christina Aguileria. Hollywood nor stateside whiteys see Del Toro that way.
i am sensing Spielberg, Nolan, Peele, Jenkins and Gerwig / Blade Runner guy fight it out for 5. Maybe Gerwig gets best original screenplay so they don't have to leave any of those six out.
I think:
1. Nolan
2. Spielberg
3. Del Toro
4. Peele
5. Gerwig
6. Guadagnino
7. Baker
8. Wright
9. Rees
10.Jenkins
in other words: please don’t nominate Spielberg again.
"White passing Latino" ? Seriously? Is "brown" the only politically correct shade of Latino? We come in all colors - going back to the directors- Nolan should get a nomination for his amazing work in "Dunkirk"
Apparently diversity doesn’t encompass diverse cultures, languages, and nationalities; it only applies to genitalia and skin color, fool.
I can totally see Greta Gerwig pulling a Sophia Coppola by winning Best Original Screenplay in lieu of Best Director. I don’t see Patty Jenkins making the top five, even taking into account that she single-handedly resuscitated the DCEU. Wonder Woman’s boffo box office is the reward, so she probably is more likely to be invited to join AMPAS’ directors branch (if she hasn’t been already) than to get an actual nomination this year.
I have no idea how the final five will turn out - the only true "locks" I see are Del Toro and Nolan (but hey, even Nolan has been considered a lock before and been snubbed, so who knows). The final three will be a combination of McDonagh Wright, Peele, Gerwig, Guadagnino, Spielberg, Baker, Villeneuve, or Aronofsky. Super competitive category.
Mareko: Mmm, after Justice League's failure, I think DC is probably going to cancel Aquaman's visual effects work (maybe editing together the completed principal photography, without VFX, and releasing straight to DVD around April to June?) AND release a minor re-edit of Wonder Woman (to eliminate the frame story), re-issuing that edit on DVD sometime before that, maybe around January or February. Officially cutting all ties of Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman with the rest of the DC cluster-bleep would be a blessing for the sequel's pre-production and script planning.
Its bizarre and ridiculous that Del Toro is considered anything other than a white Man. BLUE eyes? Check. Blond hair? Check. Fair skin whith pink Undertones? Check. He has Bill Clinton's coloring.
He is much fairer than whites Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ben Affleck, Ryan Reynolds, Gregory Peck, Bogart.
Yes, there are white people ALL over Latin América, from Mexico to Chile. In some countries such as Brasil whites are around half the population over-all (majority or minority depending on which part of the country you are) and in others such as Argentina and Uruguay they are the VAST majority.
If This can be accepting for the USA and Canada, why not THE rest of the american continent?
I think Sean Baker ("The Florida Project") can surprise. The movie's box-office success has to be taken under consideration... So, I predict Best Director this way:
1. Christopher Nolan - DUNKIRK
2. Guillermo del Toro - THE SHAPE OF WATER
3. Joe Wright - DARKEST HOUR
4. Steven Spielberg - THE POST
5. Sean Baker - THE FLORIDA PROJECT
6. Dee Rees - MUDBOUND
7. Luca Guadagnino - CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
8. Jordan Peele - GET OUT
9. Martin McDonagh - THREE BILLBOARDS
10. Greta Gerwig - LADY BIRD
.
Maybe I'm understimating Peele, but if the AMPAS goes for GET OUT in Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, he'll get 2 nods since he's producer, writer and director.... Maybe they'll want to go for another contender who also represents "new blood in filmmaking" like Baker or Rees
Latin Americans come in ALL colors and ethnicities.
Rooting for Peele and Gerwig, but I doubt it!
My ONE Oscar wish This year is for Peele to be nominated.
"In fact, only three American-born men have won this category in the past 12 years (the Coens, Scorsese and Damien Chazelle)"
Uh... technically, that's four men.
I think the directors branch loses credibility if it does not nominate Peele and Jenkins, who arguably kdirected two of the year’s best films. If it’s all white guys then they look bad.
reading this post reminds me that no woman of color has been nominated for this award (absurd) and that reminds me that ava was not nominated for selma (also absurd) which sent me down a rage rabbit hole...
I would cry my eyes out - tears of joy- If Jenkins were nominated.
But they wont nominate a woman for a superhero movie, no matter How great and fabulously directed It was.
reading this post reminds me that no woman of color has been nominated for this award (absurd) and that reminds me that ava was not nominated for selma (also absurd) which sent me down a rage rabbit hole...
No more absurd than foreigners arguing about validating Hispanic whiteness stateside.
WILL BE NOMINATED:
NOLAN - FINALLY
DEL TORO - FINALLY
LUCA GUADAGNINO - FINALLY
SHOULD BE
DEE REES
GRETA GERWIG
DENIS VILLENEUVE
SEAN BAKER
PLEASE NO!
SPIELBERG
PEELE
WRIGHT
ARONOFSKY
I hope Spielberg is nominated just to see the meltdowns and hissy fits of those who seem to completely disregard one of America's most enduring filmmakers. And it'd be classier if those begging for him not to be nominated watch the film first. And it'd be even classier if the anti-Semitism were a bit less obvious in a discussion about diversity.
What Gustavo said.
It’s a pipe dream to think Del Toro will be nominated this year for an offbeat film.
Yes. Gustavo!!!
"And it'd be even classier if the anti-Semitism were a bit less obvious in a discussion about diversity."
I will speak for myself:
I don't wanna Spielberg nominated this year because I'm anti-semite but because I think that directors who only do motion pictures to be nominated and winning awards should be in home and give the chance to others shine if they work is not that oustanding.
I hope that The Post is that good and shut up my mouth like Nolan did with Dunkirk, bu my intuition is good and I'm feeling a good movie made by the hands of Spielberg. Not a oustanding motion picture made by one of the most important directors in history.
That's all for me.
Part of me wants the media to actively pressure Ampass into nominating at least one female director (in the way they [rightly] pressured them to stop going out of their way to ignore actors of colour).
But then that nomination will look tokenistic and power players in the industry will secretly roll their eyes and maintain their sexist hiring tendencies.
On a related note, I wonder how long it's gonna take said power players to realise that a female director has to be approximately 25x as competent as her male counterpart purely to survive in this industry.... And therefore by the time a female director is getting proper opportunities, she's also 25x more likely to deliver a strong product than her male counterpart.
I mean - just consider - women are like 7% of feature film directors and yet they're delivering like 35% of the actual quality product.
Oh and it goes without saying that Peele belongs in every shortlist. Director, Writer, Picture, Sound Effects Editing, Documentary, Short Film Animated.
All of them.
Just looking at that grid of photos, I’d say six of those directors have ZERO chance of being nominated, so not as unpredictable as you’re thinking.
Wow, lots of bias here. Dunkirk is exceptional but too drab to win the big one. The Post has the gift of momentum, timeliness and huge star actors. The documentary on Spielberg on HBO is very enjoyable. Great filmmaker.
Volvagia -- whenever I read a comment on this site about a ridiculous acting nomination, I say "this was written by Volvagia" and I've never been wrong. Not meant as a dig at you, but wow are you creative lol. Jennifer Tilly in the hunt for a Supporting Actress nod for a Chucky movie?? You're hysterical.
It's been a better than terrible year for women and poc directors - notably the huge successes of Jenkins and Peele - but not great; I think we're a way off great. And although I'd love to be wrong, there's a strong chance of five white men being nominated again.