# OSCAR POLL - Best Director **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 16, 2013, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-poll-best-director/650453 "2013-02-16T00:22:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-poll-best-director/650453/1 "2013-02-16T00:22:55Z")
If you were an Academy member, for whom would you vote? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-poll-best-director/650453/2 "2013-02-16T01:15:43Z")
It may sound snooty, but I may abstain in that category because I think they missed some of the best directors of the year…and I’m not even talking about Ben Affleck. I can’t rattle it all off now, but I think I would have nominated: Zemeckis for Flight Hooper for Les Miserables Ritchie for Sherlock Holmes 2(yes, I’m serious) Tarantino for Django Unchained and at least 3 others before any of those. My vote would have been for Hooper, most likely. I think Spielberg will win. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-poll-best-director/650453/3 "2013-02-16T02:34:15Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > It may sound snooty, but I may abstain in that category because I think they missed some of the best directors of the year…and I’m not even talking about Ben Affleck. > > I can’t rattle it all off now, but I think I would have nominated: > > Zemeckis for Flight > Hooper for Les Miserables > Ritchie for Sherlock Holmes 2(yes, I’m serious) > Tarantino for Django Unchained > > and at least 3 others before any of those. My vote would have been for Hooper, most likely. > > I think Spielberg will win. I really can’t agree with any of those (particularly Hooper, who I thought did a horrible job)–this is one of the year’s that the “snubs” weren’t as good as who made the final cut (IMHO). If there’s anyone that’s conspicuously missing for me, it’s either of the Andersons (Wes or Paul Thomas). But still, this is the best lineup in quite a while. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-poll-best-director/650453/4 "2013-02-16T03:01:51Z")
> [@MovieMogul](#): > > I really can’t agree with any of those (particularly Hooper, who I thought did a horrible job)–this is one of the year’s that the “snubs” weren’t as good as who made the final cut (IMHO). If there’s anyone that’s conspicuously missing for me, it’s either of the Andersons (Wes or Paul Thomas). But still, this is the best lineup in quite a while. Would you have nominated the Wachowski siblings and Tom Tykwer for Cloud Atlas? They might have been my fifth pick. Or possibly even Richard Linklater for Bernie(which mainly was released in 2012, but may have been a 2011 movie). ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-poll-best-director/650453/5 "2013-02-16T03:43:54Z")
I have to agree that Hooper’s work on _Les Miserables_ was, I thought, terrible. I am relieved he didn’t get a nomination - I mean, the choices of shots he used, all the super closeups, framing Marius and Cosette totally separately during “Empty Chairs and Empty Tables” (oh, look, surprise! Cosette was there all along!) - simply awful. I hope hope hope to see _Zero Dark Thirty_ in the next week, so I can see if Bigelow got jobbed out of a nomination. I thought _The Hurt Locker_ was awesome, and the awards for it and her well deserved, so I really need to compare. Affleck, of course, absolutely should have been nominated, I think. He did great work on _Argo_, and as an actor myself, I think directing your own performance adds another level of difficulty. It can be too easy to let your character run roughshod over the film, and I think he did a nice, subtle job fitting his performance into the ensemble. Anyway, on to the actual nominees … I am not really up to speed on this category, as I have only seen _Lincoln_ and _Silver Linings Playbook_. Both were fantastic, and both Spielberg and Russell certainly earned their nominations. I have to go with Spielberg, narrowly. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-poll-best-director/650453/6 "2013-02-16T06:00:31Z")
I think Spielberg will _probably_ win, but I’ll be crossing my fingers for Lee. If Affleck had been nominated he probably would have gotten my vote - he made an exciting movie even though everyone already knew how it ended. Of course I guess you could say the same for Spielberg :). ---
**Author:** ![GovernmentMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@GovernmentMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GovernmentMan)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-poll-best-director/650453/7 "2013-02-16T12:53:37Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > It may sound snooty, but I may abstain in that category because I think they missed some of the best directors of the year…and I’m not even talking about Ben Affleck. > > I can’t rattle it all off now, but I think I would have nominated: > > Zemeckis for Flight > Hooper for Les Miserables > Ritchie for Sherlock Holmes 2(yes, I’m serious) > Tarantino for Django Unchained > > and at least 3 others before any of those. My vote would have been for Hooper, most likely. > > I think Spielberg will win. Snooty should come with some taste at least. Hooper’s directing was awful. And no, you can’t be serious with Guy Ritchie. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-poll-best-director/650453/8 "2013-02-19T17:25:01Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Would you have nominated the Wachowski siblings and Tom Tykwer for Cloud Atlas? They might have been my fifth pick. > > Or possibly even Richard Linklater for Bernie(which mainly was released in 2012, but may have been a 2011 movie). I enjoyed both films quite a bit, and the former was particularly overlooked by the Academy in some categories (score, makeup, visual effects, editing). But as directorial achievements? There are quite a few that would’ve ranked higher for me personally. ---
**Author:** ![Rollo\_Tomasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Rollo\_Tomasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rollo_Tomasi)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-poll-best-director/650453/9 "2013-02-20T03:08:30Z")
I usually don’t root against people getting nominations, but man, was I thrilled when Tom Hooper was not nominated here. Terrible work. I vote for Michael Haneke, although I would have voted for Kathryn Bigelow if she’d gotten the nomination. But like **MovieMogul** , my true preference would have been either of the Andersons. ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-poll-best-director/650453/10 "2013-02-20T04:33:05Z")
Affleck would have gotten my vote, but in his absence… nobody stands out.