Fromn snubbing Affleck and Bigelow for Argo for Benh Zeitlin and Michael Haneke to nominating Bennett Miller for Foxcatcher and now Lenny Abrahamson instead of Ridley Scott, it has become obvious that the eclectic directors branch within the Academy clearly thinks differently from the rest of the world and this the category is the most difficult one to predict of the major ones.

This is about The Room isn't it.

No, not about this

Lecter you're tearing me apart!

man it would've been hilarious if Abrams got nominated and no picture nom.

Quite clearly, though, they support smaller films over the bigger ones.

It was a surprise but Room is a Best Director friendly film

I didn't think Scott did anything particularly special in The Martian, so I'm glad Abrahamson made it in. I think that last year's lone director nomination for Bennett Miller was the weirdest. Came out of nowhere.

While I loved The Martian and fully expected Sir Ridley Scott to be nominated, even I have to admit it's the least Sir Ridley Scott-ish Sir Ridley Scott film Sir Ridley Scott has ever directed. His fingerprints are nowhere to be found on it.

He got DGA so it wasn't as surprising as Bennett Miller but Morten Tyldum getting in last year makes no sense to me, that film had nothing going on direction wise

Well, this is less about Scott not making it, but Abrahamson making it over, say, Haynes or Spielberg.

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/01/15/ri ... oscar-snub

Some good points. I've listened to a few podcasts about the issue and I do think there's something to Scott being largely a hired gun for The Martian, while the other four directors are seen as auteurs and/or writers/directors.

Morten Tyldum was such an auteur.

I heard a theory that getting a great performance out of a kid is looked upon by other directors as impressive. Zeitlin and Abrahamson nominations fit the profile of that at least

I heard that too. It makes sense. I just hope Abrahamson makes more use of his nomination than Zeitlin.

I'm still sad Sir Ridley Scott was overlooked mainly because I'm not sure how many more chances he'll have. Unless Alien: Covenant reaches Mad Max: Fury Road levels of awesome, it's not going to the Dolby Theatre.

Still doesn't explain freakin' Morten Tyldum.

I like that there is sometimes a big surprise in the Best Director category, if only because at least it seems like some of the Academy votes for stuff they want to legitimately recognize, not just toe the party line - because it seems like once a top 5 consensus emerges, all the awards bodies just nominate the same five or six people (whether we're talking about director or other categories), which is pretty damn boring.

Peace,
Mike

There are also like 270 directors in the academy comparing to over 1,000 actors, so it's easier to have surprises.

Good article that gives insight to Room's direction style:
http://www.indiewire.com/article/how-le ... m-20151019

after seeing the film last night, my personal take is that its Best Director nomination is more worthy than say its Best Actress nomination for Brie Larson's overrated performance.

It's still a bit of a shocker, but having seen Room, I understand a lot more why Abrahamson was nominated over Scott.

It's largely unfair but I like to use "Could ________ also have directed _________."

The Martian, as much as I love it, completely lacks any directorial fingerprints. It's a great film mind you, but literally any major director could have made it and it would have come out the same. I get why the directors branch shunned it, creatively it's a blank slate. This isn't top tier challenging and unique directing from Scott, it's strictly a commercial play.

Abrahamson, using both a confined space AND a child actor, delivered something really original and singular.

I get that, I mean I loved The Martian, but its strongest suits were the screenplay (or the novel, more like) and the cast.

However, that does not explain, how someone like Ron Howard could be nominated for A Beautiful Mind (let alone win) or David O. Russell for The Fighter or Taylor Hackford for Ray...

I guess they like nominating biopics-directors.

The Fighter is a brilliantly directed movie, and Russell's authorial fingerprints are all over it.

Pfft