Tier 1 - The Predicted Five

For this year's April Foolish predictions we're imagining that the narrative of Best Director will be "documentarians are auteurs, too" with Oscar nominated documentarians Oppenheimer and Ross getting attention for their narrative debuts. Either that or "Attack of the Octogenarians" if Francis Ford Coppola and Ridley Scott are both in play again for the first time in ages. 

*stats reflect this category only. The asterisk indicates that they have Oscar history in some other category instead or in addition to.

Brady Corbet
(never nominated)
THE BRUTALIST
(A24)
December

noms: -- 
wins: Venice Silver Lion

TEXT

 Jacques Audiard
(*never nominated)
EMILIA PEREZ

(Netflix)
November

noms: --
wins: --

TEXT

Sean Baker
(never nominated)
ANORA

(Neon)
October

noms: Gotham
wins: --

TEXT

Edward Berger
(*never nom'ed)
CONCLAVE
(Focus)
November

noms: --
wins: --

TEXT

RaMell Ross
(*never nom'ed)

THE NICKEL BOYS
(Amazon / MGM)
Date TBA

noms: Gotham
wins: --

(Searchlight)

noms: --
wins: --

TEXT

Coralie Fargeat
THE SUBSTANCE (Mubi)
September

noms: --
wins: --

TEXT

Jon M Chu
(*never nom'ed)

WICKED
(Universal)
November

noms: --
wins: --

TEXT

Pedro Almodovar
(*1 nom)
THE ROOM NEXT DOOR
(Sony Pictures Classics)
December

noms: --
wins: --

TEXT

Denis Villeneuve
(*1 nom)
DUNE PART TWO
(Warner Bros)
March

noms: --
wins: --

TEXT

Mohammad Rasoulof
THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG
(Neon)
Qualifier

noms: --
wins: --

TEXT

Tim Fehlbaum
SEPTEMBER 5
(Paramount)

noms: --
wins: --

TEXT

 Walter Salles
I'M STILL HERE
(Sony Pictures Classics)
Qualifier

noms: --
wins: --

TEXT

Mike Leigh
(noms)
HARD TRUTHS
(Bleecker Street)
Date TBA

noms: --
wins: --

TEXT

Payal Kapadia
(never nominated)
ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT

noms: Gotham
wins: --

Previous Nominees in this Category

• Kevin Costner, Horizon
• Francis Ford Coppola, Megalopolis
• Clint Eastwood, Juror #2
• Yorgos Lanthimos, Kinds of Kindness
• Mike Leigh, Hard Truths
• Steve McQueen, Blitz
• George Miller, Furiosa
• Todd Philips, Joker Folie A Deux
• Jason Reitman, Saturday Night
• Ridley Scott Gladiator II

Never nominated in this category

• Tim Burton, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
• John Crowley, We Live in Time
• Robert Eggers, Nosferatu
• Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain
• Alex Garland, Civil War
• Luca Guadagnino, Challengers
• Luca Guadagnino, Queer
• Marielle Heller, Nightbitch
• Pablo Larrain, Maria
• Rachel Morrison, The Fire Inside
• Joshua Oppenheimer, The End
• Malcolm Washington, The Piano Lesson
• Sean Wang, Didi

Also honored this year at other places...

• India Donaldson - Good One Gotham nominee
• Vera Drew -The People's Joker Gotham nominee
• Guan Hu - Black Dog Gotham nominee
• Mahdi Fleifel - To a Land Unknown Gotham nominee
• Jane Schoebrun - I Saw the TV Glow Gotham nominee
• Shuchi Talati - Girls Will Be Girls Gotham nominee