Academy Award for Best Directing
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The Academy Award for Best Director (officially known as the Academy Award of Merit for Directing) is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given in honor of a
film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...
who has exhibited outstanding directing while working in the film industry. The award is traditionally presented by the previous year's Best Director winner. The
1st Academy Awards The 1st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and hosted by AMPAS president Douglas Fairbanks, honored the best films from 1 August 1927 to 31 July 1928 and took place on May 1 ...
ceremony was held in 1929 with the award being split into "Dramatic" and "Comedy" categories;
Frank Borzage Frank Borzage (; April 23, 1894 – June 19, 1962) was an Academy Award-winning American film director and actor, known for directing '' 7th Heaven'' (1927), '' Street Angel'' (1928), '' Bad Girl'' (1931), '' A Farewell to Arms'' (1932), ''Man's ...
and Lewis Milestone won for '' 7th Heaven'' and ''
Two Arabian Knights ''Two Arabian Knights'' (1927) is an American comedy film, directed by Lewis Milestone and starring William Boyd, Mary Astor, and Louis Wolheim. A silent film, ''Two Arabian Knights'' was produced by Howard Hughes and was distributed by United ...
'', respectively. However, these categories were merged for all subsequent ceremonies. Nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the directors branch of AMPAS; winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy. For the first eleven years of the Academy Awards, directors were allowed to be nominated for multiple films in the same year. However, after the nomination of Michael Curtiz for two films, '' Angels with Dirty Faces'' and '' Four Daughters'', at the
11th Academy Awards The 11th Academy Awards were held on February 23, 1939, at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California. It was the first Academy Awards show without an official host. Frank Capra became the first person to win three Best Director awards, t ...
, the rules were revised so that an individual could only be nominated for one film at each ceremony. That rule has since been amended, although the only director who has received multiple nominations in the same year was
Steven Soderbergh Steven Andrew Soderbergh (; born January 14, 1963) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer and editor. A pioneer of modern independent cinema, Soderbergh is an acclaimed and prolific filmmaker. Soderbergh's direc ...
for '' Erin Brockovich'' and '' Traffic'' in 2000, winning the award for the latter. The Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture have been very closely linked throughout their history. Of the 88 films that won Best Picture and were also nominated for Best Director, 67 won the award. Since its inception, the award has been given to 74 directors or directing teams. As of the 2021 ceremony, New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion is the most recent winner in this category for her work on '' The Power of the Dog'' and the third woman to win it.


Winners and nominees

In the following table, the years are listed as per Academy convention, and generally correspond to the year of film release in
Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...
, California; the ceremonies are always held the following year. For the first five ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned twelve months from August 1 to July 31. Levy 2003, page 52 For the 6th ceremony held in 1934, the eligibility period lasted from August 1, 1932, to December 31, 1933. Since the 7th ceremony held in 1935, the period of eligibility became the full previous calendar year from January 1 to December 31.


1920s


1930s


1940s


1950s


1960s


1970s


1980s


1990s


2000s


2010s


2020s


Multiple wins and nominations


Multiple wins


Four or more nominations


Age superlatives


Diversity of nominees/winners

Six black directors have been nominated a total of six times in this category, and none have won the award. Seven female directors have been nominated a total of eight times in the category, and three have won the award. Eight Asian directors have been nominated a total of ten times in the category, with four wins total. Five Latin American directors have been nominated a total of seven times in the category, with five wins total.


Records

* John Ford has received the most awards in this category with four. * William Wyler was nominated on twelve occasions, more than any other individual. * Clarence Brown received the most nominations without a win with six. *
Damien Chazelle Damien Sayre Chazelle (; born January 19, 1985) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He is known for his films ''Whiplash'' (2014), ''La La Land'' (2016), and '' First Man'' (2018). For ''Whiplash'', he was nominated for the ...
became the youngest director in history to receive this award, at the age of 32 for his work on '' La La Land''. * John Singleton became the youngest and first black director to be nominated for this award, at age 24 for his work on ''
Boyz n the Hood ''Boyz n the Hood'' is a 1991 American coming-of-age hood drama film written and directed by John Singleton in his feature directorial debut. It stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Morris Chestnut, Ice Cube, Laurence Fishburne, Nia Long, Regina King, and An ...
''. * Two directing teams have shared the award; Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins for '' West Side Story'' in 1961 and Joel and Ethan Coen for '' No Country for Old Men'' in 2007. * Only four times in Academy Award history have director-collaborators been nominated for award: Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins for ''West Side Story'' (1961), Warren Beatty and Buck Henry for ''
Heaven Can Wait Heaven Can Wait may refer to: * ''Heaven Can Wait'' (1943 film), a comedy based on the stage play ''Birthday'' by Leslie Bush-Fekete * ''Heaven Can Wait'' (1978 film), an American football comedy starring Warren Beatty; a remake of the 1941 film ...
'' (1978), and Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for ''No Country for Old Men'' (2007). (Wise/Robbins and the Coens actually won the award). In 2011, the Coens were again nominated for a best directing-duo, for their Western '' True Grit'' (2010). * The Coen brothers are the only siblings to have won the award. * Kathryn Bigelow is the first woman to have won the award, for 2009's ''
The Hurt Locker ''The Hurt Locker'' is a 2008 American war thriller film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal. It stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Christian Camargo, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, and Guy Pearce. The film follo ...
''. *
Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five A ...
for ''The Godfather Trilogy'' is the only director to be nominated for each film of a trilogy, winning one for the sequel. * John Ford (1940-1941),
Joseph L. Mankiewicz Joseph Leo Mankiewicz (; February 11, 1909 – February 5, 1993) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Mankiewicz had a long Hollywood career, and won both the Academy Award for Best Director and the Academy Award for Best ...
(1949-1950), and Alejandro González Iñárritu (2014-2015) are the only three directors to have won back-to-back for this category. * Ang Lee is the first Asian director to have won the award. In 2012 he became the first Asian director to win twice.


Notes


See also

*
BAFTA Award for Best Direction The BAFTA Award for Best Direction, formerly known as David Lean Award for Achievement in Direction, is a British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to a film director for a specifi ...
*
Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Director The Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Director is one of the awards given to film directors working in the film industry by the Critics Choice Association at the annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards. It was first given out to Mel Gibson for '' ...
* Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film *
Golden Globe Award for Best Director The Golden Globe Award for Best Director – Motion Picture is a Golden Globe Award that has been presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, an organization composed of journalists who cover the United States film industry fo ...
* Independent Spirit Award for Best Director


References


Bibliography

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External links


Oscars.org
(official Academy site)

(official site)
Oscar.com
(official ceremony promotional site) {{DEFAULTSORT:Academy Award For Best Directing Directing Awards for best director