Oscar Predictions 2016: Who Will Win Best Director?
The 2016 Oscars are almost here, which means it's time to firm up those predictions and get your ballot all ready to go.
This week, leading up to film's biggest night of the year, Moviefone's editors are revealing our predictions in the ceremony's biggest categories. We've already given you our picks for Best Actress, Best Actor, and Best Picture. Now let's take a look at Best Director. The nominees are:
Adam McKay, "The Big Short"
George Miller, "Mad Max: Fury Road"
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, "The Revenant"
Lenny Abrahamson, "Room"
Tom McCarthy, "Spotlight"
Here, we've filled you in on who we think will win, as well as who we feel truly deserves to take home that coveted golden statue.
Tim Hayne
Who Will Win: Alejandro G. Iñárritu for "The Revenant." Yes, he won last year, but Academy Awards history is littered with two-time Oscar-winning directors: Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, Clint Eastwood, Milos Forman, and Robert Wise, to name more than a few. He wouldn't be the first to win back-to-back Best Directing Oscars, either; that distinction belongs to John Ford. Plus, "The Revenant" hits all the marks for a Best Director win: it stars a high-profile actor (Leonardo DiCaprio, a shoe-in for Best Actor), a substantial box office take, and some envelope-pushing, risk-taking filmmaking.
Who Should Win: Tom McCarthy for "Spotlight." Sure, "Spotlight" lacks the populist appeal and gritty, in-your-face filmmaking style of Iñárritu's "The Revenant," but McCarthy's portrait of the Boston Globe's exposé on sexual abuse within the Catholic Church is one told skillfully, artfully, and compellingly. It's a riveting 2+ hours filled with masterful performances and well-crafted dialogue. What's more? McCarthy took a sensitive, scandalous topic and made an honest movie that ably skirts sensationalization and exploitation. Now that's an achievement.
Phil Pirrello
Who Will Win: Alejandro G. Iñárritu. Having won the DGA award — two years in a row — he is the odds-on favorite. And the narrative behind "The Revanant's" Oscar campaign has focused on how hard and exacting of a production it was to capture the Oscar-winner's vision. About time all the hard work pays off.
Who Should Win: George Miller. At 70, Miller showed the young crop of what passes for action movie directors how it is done, with his relentless and inventive "Mad Max: Fury Road." He gives each scene the exact amount of whatever it needs, producing a modern classic that, in any other year, would have probably taken home Best Director if not for stiff competition from "The Revenant."
Rachel Horner
Who Will Win: Alejandro González Iñárritu for "The Revenant."
Who Should Win: I'm torn between Alejandro González Iñárritu and George Miller for "Mad Max: Fury Road." I'm leaning more towards George Miller, but both of them deserve it.
Alana Altmann
Who Will Win: Alejandro G. Iñárritu for "The Revenant." The DGA award win is a good indication that he's on his way to a second victory in this category. This is the kind of gut-wrenching survival tale that has Oscar written all over it.
What Should Win: This is a toss up for me.George Miller's unique "Mad Max" vision was unlike anything we've seen from an "action" film in years, but "The Revenant"s striking imagery kept our eyes glued to the screen, even when things got brutal. I can't help being impressed by the fact that the same person who made a jazzy art-fest like "Birdman" made the wilderness epic a year later.