Best Director Oscar Snubs Happen Every Year, Even to Best Picture Nominees
Don't you know? A Best Picture Oscar nominee can direct itself.
Every year after the Oscar nominees announcement there is a great deal of talk about who the Academy Awards snubbed. The Directing and Best Picture categories are always prime targets because, as a director, to have your film nominated for Best Picture but not get recognition for your directing talent seems unfair. But there’s always a Best Director Oscar snub; in fact, more than one each year. For the 2019 Best Director Oscar nominees, Bradley Cooper is the director being singled out for not getting a nomination to accompany A Star Is Born’s Best Picture Oscar nomination.
Bradley Cooper did an excellent job on A Star Is Born, but there are fewer slots for Best Director then Best Picture, more than double is possible. That means a handful of directors are always going to be left out, and for the 2019 Best Director Oscar category, Ryan Coogler for Black Panther, Bryan Singer for Bohemian Rhapsody, and Peter Farrelly for Green Book join Bradley Cooper on the Oscar snub list.
The most surprising Best Director Oscar snub from the 2019 Best Director Oscar nominees list is not Bradley Cooper, though, in my opinion. It’s Peter Farrelly. More often than not, the Best Picture Oscar goes to the winner of Best Director. But this year that likely won’t happen, same as in 2017 when Damien Chazelle won Best Director for La La Land but Moonlight took home Best Picture. In 2019, the likely Best Picture winner is Peter Farrelly’s Green Book but since he is not up for Best Director, it’s a toss-up, but Alfonso Cuarón for Roma is the frontrunner. I’m rooting for Spike Lee, who has finally been nominated for a Best Director Oscar, 30 years (!) after he first deserved it with Do the Right Thing.
Best Director Oscar snubs aren’t going away any time soon, but to ease the pain fans and the snubbed directors may be feeling, let’s look at who else has been snubbed by the Academy. And just to be clear, joining the list of Best Director Oscar snubs puts you in excellent company and if history has taught us anything, on the path to great or continued success in most cases. I’m also throwing in the biggest Best Director Oscar snub for each year, in my opinion, for extra fun.
Best Director Oscar Snubs Since 2010
2019 - Biggest Snub: Ryan Coogler
- Ryan Coogler, Black Panther – Kevin Feige, Producer
- Bryan Singer, Bohemian Rhapsody – Graham King, Producer
- Peter Farrelly, Green Book – Jim Burke, Charles B. Wessler, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly and Nick Vallelonga, Producers
- Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born – Bill Gerber, Bradley Cooper and Lynette Howell Taylor, Producers
2018 - Biggest Snub: Martin McDonagh
- Luca Guadagnino, Call Me by Your Name – Peter Spears, Luca Guadagnino, Emilie Georges and Marco Morabito, Producers
- Joe Wright, Darkest Hour – Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, Anthony McCarten and Douglas Urbanski, Producers
- Steven Spielberg, The Post – Amy Pascal, Steven Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers
- Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
2017 - Biggest Snub: David Mackenzie
- Denzel Washington, Fences – Scott Rudin, Denzel Washington and Todd Black, Producers
- David Mackenzie, Hell or High Water – Carla Hacken and Julie Yorn, Producers
- Theodore Melfi, Hidden Figures – Donna Gigliotti, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Pharrell Williams and Theodore Melfi, Producers
- Garth Davis, Lion – Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Angie Fielder, Producers
2016 - Biggest Snub: John Crowley
- Steven Spielberg, Bridge of Spies – Steven Spielberg, Marc Platt and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers
- John Crowley, Brooklyn – Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
- Ridley Scott, The Martian – Simon Kinberg, Ridley Scott, Michael Schaefer and Mark Huffam, Producers
2015 - Biggest Snub: Clint Eastwood
- Clint Eastwood, American Sniper – Clint Eastwood, Robert Lorenz, Andrew Lazar, Bradley Cooper and Peter Morgan, Producers
- Ava DuVernay, Selma – Christian Colson, Oprah Winfrey, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, Producers
- James Marsh, The Theory of Everything – Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce and Anthony McCarten, Producers
- Damien Chazelle, Whiplash – Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook and David Lancaster, Producers
2014 - Biggest Snub: Spike Jonze
- Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips – Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca, Producers
- Jean-Marc Vallée, Dallas Buyers Club – Robbie Brenner and Rachel Winter, Producers
- Spike Jonze, Her – Megan Ellison, Spike Jonze and Vincent Landay, Producers
- Stephen Frears, Philomena – Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan and Tracey Seaward, Producers
2013 - Biggest Snubs: Ben Affleck and Quentin Tarantino
- Ben Affleck, Argo – Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers
- Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained – Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone, Producers
- Tom Hooper, Les Miserables – Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh, Producers
- Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty – Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison, Producers
2012 - Biggest Snub: Tate Taylor
- Stephen Daldry, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close – Scott Rudin, Producer
- Tate Taylor, The Help – Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
- Bennett Miller, Moneyball – Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
- Steven Spielberg, War Horse – Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
2011 - Biggest Snubs: Christopher Nolan and Danny Boyle
- Christopher Nolan, Inception – Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
- Tim Doyle, The Kids Are Alright – Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
- Danny Boyle, 127 hours – Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
- Lee Unkrich, Toy Story 3 – Darla K. Anderson, Producer
- Debra Granik, Winter’s Bone – Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers
2010 - Biggest Snub: Neil Blomkamp
- John Lee Hancock, The Blind Side – Gil Netter, Andrew A. Kosove and Broderick Johnson, Producers
- Neil Blomkamp, District 9 – Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
- Lone Scherfig, An Education – inola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
- Ethan Coen and Joel Cohel, A Serious Man – Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
- Pete Docter and Bob Peterson, Up – Jonas Rivera, Producer
If you’re wondering why this list does not cover to 2009, it’s because every Best Picture Oscar nominee in 2009 also had its director nominated. There were no Best Director Oscar snubs for nominees in 2009!
