2018 Oscar Predictions: BEST DIRECTOR (May) – Todd Haynes Reigns, Denis Villeneuve and Dan Gilroy Rise

Erik Anderson May 2, 2017

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As with Best Picture this month, we see the first change in the top spot in our predictions this year. Wonderstruck‘s Todd Haynes claims the throne over Detroit‘s Kathryn Bigelow, but not by much. She is still a major player and actually has more #1 votes than Haynes right now.

The rest of the top 10 is a sea of green with nearly everyone from last month moving up at least one spot. In the case of Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049) and Dan Gilroy (Inner City), it’s a big jump into the top 10 for the first time. Inner City just began shooting last month so it’s still up in the air whether or not it will be a late 2017 release but many in the Gold Rush Gang feel it will be and have put their chips in. The point total differences in the 6-9 spots also point to a very tight race where anything, or anyone, could happen.

Alexander Payne (Downsizing) is the big loser this month, as was the film in Best Picture. He drops from #2 to #11.

Michael Haneke (Happy End) and Martin McDonaugh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) are the debuts on the chart this month. Happy End landed an In Competition spot at Cannes, dramatically raising the film’s profile, and Three Billboards continues to pick up steam at a strong player for Fox Searchlight.

From the Other Contenders list the ones to watch out for will be Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water), Jordan Peele (Get Out, which just landed on our BP predictions) and Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman).

Here are the 2018 Oscar predictions in Best Director for May 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

	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	Todd Haynes – Wonderstruck	2	1	4	3	1	1	2	3	3	2	88
2	Kathryn Bigelow – Detroit	1	2	1	2	7	2	1	8	1	1	84
3	Steven Spielberg – Untitled Pentagon Papers Project	3	4	3	1	8	3	3	1	2	6	76
4	Joe Wright – Darkest Hour	6		2	5	2	5	4	7	5	5	58
5	Christopher Nolan – Dunkirk	8	3	5	4	3	7	8	9	7	3	53

6	Andrew Haigh – Lean on Pete	7	5	10	9	9	6		6	6	8	33
7	Denis Villeneuve – Blade Runner 2049	9	7	9		4	4	9	5	9		32
8	Luca Guadagnino – Call Me By Your Name		6			5		5	2		7	30
9	Dan Gilroy – Inner City (possibly 2018)		8			6		6	4		4	27
10	Dee Rees – Mudbound	4		7	8			7		8		21
11	Alexander Payne – Downsizing	10		8	10		10			4		13
12	Darren Aronofsky – mother!			6	7	10						10
12	Michael Haneke – Happy End		9		6		8					10
14	George Clooney – Suburbicon	5					9					8
15	Richard Linklater – Last Flag Flying							10		10	9	4
16	Paul Thomas Anderson – Untitled Fashion Project		10								10	2
17	Martin McDonaugh – Three Bilboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri								10			1

	OTHER CONTENDERS
	Aaron Sorkin – Molly’s Game
	Alfonso Gómez-Rejón – The Current War
	Andy Serkis – Breathe
	David Gordon Green – Stronger
	Garth Davis – Mary Magdalene
	Guillermo Del Toro – The Shape of Water
	Jordan Peele – Get Out
	Michael Gracey – The Greatest Showman
	Reginald Hudlin – Marshall
	Sebastián Lelio – Disobedience
	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.