Best Director Snubs: What it Means for the Oscars and the Industry

Best Director Snubs: What it Means for the Oscars and the Industry Yesterday's Oscar nominations came with very few surprises except in the category of Best Director. The lack of recognition for some of Hollywood's biggest names proved to be the shot heard around the entertainment industry. Most specifically, people were outraged that Ben Affleck was not included for his work in Argo (though he was awarded a Critics Choice Award later that night in the same category) and female director powerhouse Kathryn Bigelow failed to get nominated for her vision in Zero Dark Thirty. Ironically, both movies mentioned were nominated for Best Picture. How can these two categories be so mutually exclusive? And what do these nominations (or lack thereof) mean for the role of movie directors in the future. We've taken a quick look at Oscar trends to see how these snubs could impact this year's awards and the future awards to come.

Why Were They Left Out? Just Google Best Director and you'll find dozens of conspiracy theories on why Affleck and Bigelow were left out of this year's Directorial nominations. After wading through them all, it seems like some are way more plausible than others.

Ben Affleck

It seems like the Academy is having a hard time adjusting to the idea of Ben Affleck being a serious contender in this category. Though Argo has been hailed as a well paced, political thriller (much in thanks to Affleck's directing), we're guessing that he got snubbed not because of his work, but because of his competition. This year we're seeing more independent films getting the nod, as well as the forgein film surprise, Amour. Affleck is still seen as a young, wealthy director with many more movies ahead of him, and because of that he probably lost out on a lot of underdog and sympathy votes that certainly helped other nominees land their place on the ballot.

Kathryn Bigelow

Kathryn Bigelow has even more controversy surrounding her Oscar snub. While there's many directions you can point your fingers, I urge you to stay away from the the Academy hates girls excuse. Of course, you'd be right, the Oscars consistantly turn their heads to strong female directors, but Bigelow's work, Zero Dark Thirty, has way to much political heat behind it to make this an entirely feminist issue. Since a few politicians in Washington decided to speak out against the accuracy of Bigelow's film, the Zero Dark Thirty hype and reputation have been questioned to say the least.

What Happens Next? These snubs can help us make some predictions for this year's awards, and may also set a tone for nominations in the years to come.

Who will win the 2013 Best Picture award? There are a couple schools of thought here.

1) Of the 85 films that have won Best Picture, 62 have also won Best Director. Given these statistics, we're left to believe that Lincoln, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Silver Lining Playbook, Life of Pi and Amour have the greatest chances of winning. Out of those five, we'd heavily favor Lincoln due to its star studded cast, the amount of nominations it received and the Academy's love of all things Spielberg.

2) Kathryn Bigelow s lack of Best Director nomination may win her some sympathy votes in the Best Picture category. Many in Hollywood are outraged that this has become a political issue, so there could be enough pull from voters to get her the recognition she deserves when it comes to the biggest prize of the night.

What about the future? The nominations for Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild) and Michael Haneke (Amour) make it clear that there's a portion of the Oscar voting public that is rooting for the underdog. They're looking for people who can do a lot with a little and don't need large studios to fund a creative project. We think this will be a trend in future awards, making the need for creativity and resourcefulness just as important as financial backing.

What Do You Think? Do you think these 2013 Oscar snubs will have an impact on the future of directing? What role do you see the director playing in years to come as a result? Leave us a message below or head on over to the Video Blocks Facebook page to share your opinion!

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