2017 Oscar Predictions: BEST DIRECTOR (May)

[divider style=”solid” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]

Even less change in Best Director this month than in Best Picture, with Martin Scorsese still ruling the roost with Silence. The top 7 vote getters remain the same just with ever so slight changes in vote totals. We do have one new entry in Barry Jenkins for Moonlight, which sees increases in many categories this month. The first trailer for Ang Lee’s much anticipated Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk is set to debut this week, we’ll see how much impact (if any) it has on next month’s totals.

OTHER CONTENDERS
Woody Allen – Café Society
Ben Younger – Bleed For This
Peter Berg – Deepwater Horizon
Kelly Reichardt – Certain Women
Denzel Washington – Fences
Robert Zemeckis – Allied
Tate Taylor – The Girl on the Train
Cédric Jimenez – HHhH
Damien Chazelle – La La Land
Rob Reiner – LBJ
Derek Cianfrance – The Light Between Oceans
Yorgios Lanthimos – The Lobster
James Gray – The Lost City of Z
Tom Ford – Nocturnal Animals
Morten Tyldum – Passengers
Clint Eastwood – Sully
Niki Caro – The Zookeeper’s Wife

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

BEST PICTURE
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

• Author
• Recent Posts

Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

Latest posts by Erik Anderson (see all)

• 2026 Tribeca Festival Celebrates 25th Anniversary with World Premieres of ‘Hadestown: The Musical,’ ‘Earth, Wind & Fire’ Doc - April 16, 2026
• ‘Beef’ Season 2 Review: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Cailee Spaeny and Charles Melton Sink Their Teeth Into Lee Sung Jin’s Meaty Morality Tale [A-] - April 16, 2026
• George Clooney to be Honored at 51st Chaplin Award Gala by Stephen Colbert, Sam Rockwell and More - April 15, 2026