2018 Oscar Predictions – BEST DIRECTOR (August): Christopher Nolan Leads the Charge

Erik Anderson July 31, 2017

Coupled with his film, Dunkirk, landing at #1 in Best Picture this month, Christopher Nolan has secured his first month in the top spot of Best Director. But can he finally get that ever-elusive Oscar nomination? After flirting with nominations that never came to fruition (despite multiple DGA noms) it should be all but assured that the popular director of major box office hits like The Dark Knight and Inception could seal the deal with a more traditionally ‘Oscar-y’ film like a based on a true story World War II film. If he can’t get in for this, he’s never getting in. Luckily, the film is a massive critical hit and a huge box office success so far. By debuting in summer it avoided the glut of winter releases and he and the film will likely be rewarded for it.

This means last month’s tied leaders, Oscar winners Steven Spielberg (The Papers) and Kathryn Bigelow, take a back seat to Nolan’s driver. For Spielberg it’s just a minor bump but for Bigelow it’s a bigger one as she falls to #5 in the face of heavy criticism over her film, Detroit, being too relentlessly dark and her being a white director handling (or mishandling, depending on who you read) an important piece of black American history.

More moves up this month are Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name) and, like in Best Picture, The Shape of Water‘s Guillermo del Toro, who pushes his way into the top 3.

A handful of directors near the bottom receive some votes despite their films not landing in Best Picture: Darren Aronofsky (mother!), Alexander Payne (Downsizing), Paul Thomas Anderson (Phantom Thread) and Alfonso Gómez-Rejón (The Current War). Andrew Haigh (Lean of Pete), George Clooney (Suburbicon) and Martin McDonaugh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) fall off the list this month.

Here are the 2018 Oscar predictions in Best Director for August from the Gold Rush Gang. Keep an eye on all of the Gold Rush Gang’s 2018 Oscar predictions updated LIVE throughout the month.

Green – moves up from last month
Red – moves down from last month
Blue – debut/new entry
Orange – re-entry

	BEST DIRECTOR	ERIK ANDERSON	BRYAN BONAFEDE	GREG HOWARD	EVAN KOST	JASON OSIASON	KENNETH POLISHCHUK	DENIZCAN SÜRÜCÜ	RICHARD ANTHONY	ŞÜKRÜ SÖĞÜT	MATT DINN	TOTAL POINTS

1	Christopher Nolan – Dunkirk	5	1	5	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	91
2	Steven Spielberg – The Papers	2	3	3	2	4	2	2	2	1	2	87
3	Guillermo Del Toro – The Shape of Water	3	2		3	2		3	5	3	3	64
4	Luca Guadagnino – Call Me By Your Name	4	4	7	6	3	8	5	10	4	4	55
5	Kathryn Bigelow – Detroit	1		1	4		4	6	6	6	7	53

6	Sean Baker – The Florida Project	6	6	2	8	7	3	8	9	7	8	46
7	Dan Gilroy – Roman Israel, Esq.		8	8	5	6	10	4	4	5	5	44
8	Joe Wright – Darkest Hour	7		4	9		9	7	7	8		26
9	Jordan Peele – Get Out	8	5		7	9	7	10			6	25
10	Denis Villeneuve – Blade Runner 2049	9		6	10	10	5	9	8	9	10	23
11	Paul Thomas Anderson – Phantom Thread		7			5				10		11
12	Dee Rees – Mudbound	10	10	10					6			8
13	Todd Haynes – Wonderstruck						6					5
13	Richard Linklater – Last Flag Flying		9								8	5
15	Darren Aronofsky – mother!					8						3
16	Alexander Payne – Downsizing			9								2
16	Alfonso Gómez-Rejón – The Current War								9			2

	OTHER CONTENDERS
	Aaron Sorkin – Molly’s Game
	Andrew Haigh – Lean on Pete
	Andy Serkis – Breathe
	Clint Eastwood – The 15:17 to Paris
	David Gordon Green – Stronger
	Garth Davis – Mary Magdalene
	George Clooney – Suburbicon
	Greta Gerwig – Lady Bird
	Martin McDonaugh – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
	Michael Gracey – The Greatest Showman
	Michael Haneke – Happy End
	Reginald Hudlin – Marshall
	Ridley Scott – All the Money in the World
	Ruben Östlund – The Square
	Sebastián Lelio – Disobedience
	Sofia Coppola – The Beguiled
	Stanley Tucci – Final Portrait
	Stephen Frears – Victoria and Abdul
	Woody Allen – Wonder Wheel
	Yorgos Lanthimos – The Killing of a Sacred Deer

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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), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) 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.