in-depth look at the top categories. Today, Best Director, where despite surprisingly

strong contenders across the board, Alejandro Inarritu seems poised to join that rare club

of individuals who have won back to back Oscars. Do you think Alejandro is as done a deal as

Leo?! Be sure to vote in Beyond The Trailer’s annual Oscar poll! The link is in the video

description. And right now let’s take a look at who could possibly upset an Alejandro

win…

Lenny Abrahamson - Room One of the nicest things about the Best Director

category this year is that it isn’t full of the “usual choices”. Sure it would

be nice if Room’s Lenny Abrahamson would get nominated, but he doesn’t have the pedigree.

He doesn’t have the connections. He isn’t the sort of director to get “nominated”.

Except this year, he did! Yes, instead of Sir Ridley Scott and Todd Haynes, and even

over a diversity nomination for Ryan Coogler, here’s Irish director Abrahamson who’s

few films to date have NEVER been recognized by The Academy, The Golden Globes, BAFTA or

even the indie Gotham or Spirit Awards. As for mainstream moviegoers, Abrahamson has

barely registered with Frank, sort of starring Michael Fassbender, and putting Jack Reynor

on Hollywood’s radar. Ah, so THAT’S why Reynor gets work! Because up until now it’s

been a bit of a mystery. But at the end of the day there’s no mystery as to why Abrahamson

made the cut this year - The Academy just loves Room that much. So while Brie Larson

is almost guaranteed to win Best Actress, such adoration could lead to another upset

- maybe even here. And even if Abrahamson doesn’t win, you can bet he’s squarely

on Hollywood’s radar now as well - reunited with Jack Reynor!

Alejandro Inarritu - The Revenant Wow. The last two years have been a meteoric

rise for Mexico’s Inarritu. He broke into Hollywood as a typical foreign director - the

type actors go to for artistic credibility in-between blockbusters, making films lauded

by critics but seen by few. And on that note, Inarritu has made many trips to the Oscars,

but always as “filler”, in other words, his films had no chance of winning any major

awards but occasionally took home a craft award or two. But then Birdman came along,

where Inarritu suddenly seemed to click as not just an artist but a businessman. First

off, Birdman tapped into Hollywood’s growing frustration with the rise of the superhero

movie - all the fall awards releases tanked at the box office, but Deadpool breaks box

office records?! Then second, Inarritu discovered the power of “stunt” filmmaking. Done

all in what seemed like one long take, Birdman went on to win Best Picture, Best Director,

Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography. Then with The Revenant, while his instance of shooting

with only natural light and real snow caused the production to become a costly nightmare,

Inarritu spun those choices as an artist holding his ground - a narrative that’s worked!

Inarritu has won Best Director at the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs, and The Director’s Guild

of America - he didn’t even sweep like that for Birdman! See, just like George Miller

this year, Richard Linklater made the mistake of not playing up his own “stunt” filmmaking…

The squeaky wheel gets the Oscar!

Tom McCarthy - Spotlight Now, you might THINK that Tom McCarthy is

another surprise nominee, but he actually has excellent awards street-cred. The Station

Agent, The Visitor, Win Win, The Cobbler - oh, wait a minute, how’d that last one get in

there…? See luckily for McCarthy, Spotlight was such a labor of love - which he also co-wrote

- that The Academy was willing to overlook one paycheck gig that THANKFULLY nobody saw.

McCarthy is also a TV and sometimes movie actor, but Academy voters do love a multi-hyphenate

- just ask the current king of multi-hyphenates, George Clooney. And the great thing about

being a multi-hyphenate is that it increases your chances of getting an Oscar. See, while

there’s pretty much no chance he’ll win Best Director, and won’t get an Oscar for

Best Picture since he isn’t a producer on Spotlight, McCarthy IS the front-runner for

Best Original Screenplay, having already won the BAFTA and the WGA Award…

Adam McKay - The Big Short This is a the other surprise nominee - Will Ferrell’s

creative partner since way back in the day on SNL! Yes, the director of Farrell’s biggest

hits is now an Oscar nominee, which might mean he and Ferrell have…grown apart? It’s

tough to say as McKay doesn’t have his next directing gig set up yet, the big dreamer

and his management team obviously holding out hope for an Inarritu upset. Now that’s

funny! Then again, McKay could find himself laughing all the way up to the Oscar stage.

The Big Short isn’t a frontrunner in any of the major categories, with only a slim

chance it could take Best Picture - both Spotlight and The Revenant have stronger claims to the

title right now. So the ever democratic Academy could feel Leo’s Best Actor win takes care

of The Revenant, and look to give some gold to The Big Short right here. But even if McKay

doesn’t win, which again he likely won’t, to be an Oscar-nominated director is going

to take his career to a whole new level. It would be nice if he could take Ferrell with

him, but just remember what happened when Nic Pizzolatto cast pal Vince Vaughn in True

Detective Season 2. I suspect Paul Rudd’s cell will ring before Ferrell’s…

George Miller - Mad Max Fury Road To fanboys, Christopher Nolan and Miller are

cut from the same cloth - but not to the Academy. Nolan almost immediately graduated to blockbuster

status after Memento, robbing him of some of the artistic street-cred that’s so important

to The Academy - thus the likely reasoning behind his decision to direct a World War

2 pic as his next project ala Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, which finally got him

some respect in Hollywood as an artist. But Miller’s eclectic resume, seemingly devoid

of concern for box office success despite astounding box office success, Academy voters

were enchanted by Miller’s Lorenzo’s Oil, Babe and Happy Feet - the later for which

he actually won Best Animated Feature in 2007. So Academy voters, contemporaries of Miller,

are likely impressed not just with Miller’s experimentation but also his ability to reinvent

himself - keeping his career alive. But thriving? As fanboys have moved their allegiance to

Star Wars and now Deadpool, and even The Revenant thanks to Leo, Miller’s Mad Max Fury Road

suddenly seems forgotten. And suddenly instead of excitedly talking about about planned sequels

like he was right after Mad Max Fury Road’s release, suddenly he’s saying he’s too

tired to revisit the material right now. Yes, fanboys and the industry casting his work

aside seems to have broken Miller and while a win here or for Best Picture could maybe

make him rise like the phoenix, neither is likely happen…

And those are the 2016 nominees for Best Director! Be sure to leave your comments down below,

as well as vote in Beyond The Trailer’s annual Oscar poll via the link in the video

description. I’m Grace Randolph, and I hope you’ll check out the rest of BTT’s Oscar

coverage - right now!