2017 Oscar Predictions: BEST DIRECTOR (December) – The Rise of Barry Jenkins

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Damien Chazelle (La La Land) still holds onto a perfect score of 50 in our Best Director predictions but the real story this month is Moonlight‘s Barry Jenkins. The filmmaker’s sophomore effort has earned the best reviews of any film this year, is nearing $10M at the box office (pretty huge for a film about black, queer youth and young adults) and so far has won the directing prizes from the National Board of Review, New York Film Critics Circle and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. He rises from #4 to #3, putting him closer and closer to challenging Chazelle for the big prize.

Martin Scorsese’s Silence has finally screened (I saw this last night; it’s a masterpiece) should be very safe this year for one of his most personal passion projects to date.

Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea) is still in it, just behind Jenkins now but the struggle for that 5th spot is real. Pablo Larráin’s (Jackie) grasp on it from last month is tenuous at best as he’s now being given chase by Paul Verhoeven (Elle), Denis Villeneuve (Arrival), Garth Davis (Lion) and David Mackenzie (Hell or High Water). From the Other Contenders list there’s a real chance for Denzel Washington (Fences) to earn his first nomination in this category or for the return of Mel Gibson (an Oscar winner here) for Hacksaw Ridge.

Here are the 2017 Oscar predictions for Best Director from The Gold Rush Gang for December:

OTHER CONTENDERS
Denzel Washington – Fences
Mel Gibson – Hacksaw Ridge
Jeff Nichols – Loving
Clint Eastwood – Sully

Follow the updated Gold Rush Gang predictions in these Oscar categories here:

BEST PICTURE
BEST DIRECTOR
BEST ACTOR
BEST ACTRESS
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
BEST FILM EDITING
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
BEST SOUND EDITING
BEST SOUND MIXING
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM (the shortlist)