In concept, the Academy of Movement Image Arts and Sciences Annual Awards, higher often called the Oscars, acknowledge the best in movie achievement, going to one of the best administrators, performers, and creatives in any given yr. And but, a number of the most necessary filmmakers of all time have by no means been acknowledged by the Academy.
Certain, a few of them made motion pictures that received different awards, and a few even acquired honorary or lifetime achievement Oscars. However these finest administrators by no means took house the Finest Director Oscar {hardware}.
1. Alfred Hitchcock
For years, the Grasp of Suspense’s Vertigo sat on the highest of critics’ rankings of the best motion pictures ever made. Wildly well-liked in his personal time, Alfred Hitchcock didn’t simply make pulpy thrillers that tantalized viewers and excited audiences. He additionally introduced psychological depth to movies akin to Psycho, Rope, and The Man Who Knew Too A lot.
Few administrators have proven an easy understanding of the connection between the viewers and the digicam. Photographs of Cary Grant diving from a crop duster in North by Northwest or Jimmy Stewart watching in horror at a homicide in Rear Window outlined the language of cinema, even right now. That was adequate for Hitchcock to garner 5 Finest Director nominations between 1940 and 1960, however not sufficient for a win.
2. Orson Welles
How necessary is Orson Welles? When folks discuss one of the best factor in a selected class, they name it Citizen Kane, referring to Welles’s debut characteristic. It’s simple to see how Citizen Kane grew to become one of the best movie ever made. Its dizzying digicam strikes and clever makes use of of shadow take viewers by way of the labyrinth of the thoughts of unhappy Charles Foster Kane, performed by Welles.
Even after that titanic achievement, Welles continued to enhance. Studio meddling prevented his follow-up, The Magnificent Ambersons, from reaching the identical heights as Citizen Kane, however his ongoing improvements are current in movies akin to The Woman From Shanghai, Contact of Evil, and the documentary F for Faux.
Along with his directing, Welles commanded the display together with his booming voice and plain presence. The Academy gave Citizen Kane Finest Screenplay and Welles an Honorary Oscar in 1971, however when it got here to finest director, he was solely nominated.
3. Jean-Luc Godard
A pacesetter within the French New Wave motion of the late Fifties and Nineteen Sixties, Jean-Luc Godard helped open cinema to the typical individual. The place Hollywood and its rivals centered on stunning folks dwelling glamorous lives, Godard turned his consideration towards abnormal people in mundane circumstances.
Godard’s debut characteristic, Breathless, treats a thief’s run from the legislation not as a excessive journey however as an abnormal incidence. He strips all sense of surprise from his sci-fi noir Alphaville. When he moved on to completely different approaches, as within the self-aware satire Weekend or the essay-in-film Goodbye to Language, Godard stored that experimental spirit, persevering with to push the bounds of cinematic artwork.
All that innovation resulted in simply an Honorary Oscar in 2010, however by no means an award for Finest Director.
4. Stanley Kubrick
With The Shining, Stanley Kubrick made among the finest horror motion pictures of all time. He made one of the best sci-fi film of all time with 2001: A Area Odyssey. Paths of Glory is likely one of the biggest conflict motion pictures, whereas Dr. Strangelove, or How I Discovered to Cease Worrying and Love the Bomb is likely one of the biggest comedies of all time. Aside from a couple of preliminary outings, each film Kubrick made was a masterpiece, or got here shut.
And the way does the Academy reply to such a powerful filmography? With one Academy Award, giving 2001 Finest Visible Results. Certain, Kubrick scored nominations for Finest Director 3 times all through his profession, however he by no means received.
A technical grasp who made movies that each dazzled and challenged viewers by no means received Finest Director. If that’s not a cost in opposition to the Academy, then nothing is.
5. Ingmar Bergman
Like Hitchcock in Hollywood, the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman delved into the psychological depth of his characters. Nonetheless, Bergman combined in a non secular longing that captured the non secular creativeness of his day. Whether or not he was making the horror movie Hour of the Wolf, the existential comedy Wild Strawberries, or the three-hour drama Fanny and Alexander, Bergman understood the discontent inside everybody.
Lest that description sound too heady or uninteresting, Bergman matched his thematic issues with a knack for establishing memorable cinematic photos. Even these with little interest in overseas movies can acknowledge Dying enjoying chess with a knight in The Seventh Seal or the woodsman holding the physique of his late daughter in The Virgin Spring.
Bergman’s work captured the complete potential of cinema to talk on the human situation, which the Academy acknowledged with three Finest International Image wins. However by no means as soon as did they provide Bergman Finest Director.
6. Akira Kurosawa
Nonetheless thought of a very powerful Japanese filmmaker who ever lived, Akira Kurosawa pioneered the cinematic language of historic epic. Motion pictures akin to Rashomon, wherein figures on trial retell a narrative from a number of angles, or a samurai tackle King Lear referred to as Ran, characteristic photos and approaches that also affect filmmakers right now.
Whereas his interval items are inclined to get a lot of the consideration, Kurosawa additionally made highly effective trendy motion pictures. The empathetic Ikiru captures the dignity of a dying firm man, whereas the sweat-soaked noir Stray Canine takes a palpable take a look at the large metropolis.
Thanks to those genre-defining works and collaborations with the charismatic main Toshiro Mifune, Kurosawa introduced Asian cinema to the remainder of the world. And but, the Movement Image Academy honored him with nothing greater than a Lifetime Achievement Oscar in 1990.
7. Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott has a profession that any filmmaker would envy. Coming from the world of tv commercials, the English director has made a number of the most revered and worthwhile movies of the previous fifty years. He adopted his debut The Duelists with 1979’s Alien, a genre-defining movie that continues to generate sequels to this present day.
All through his profession, Scott has labored in a variety of genres, together with feminist crime in Thelma & Louise, the historic epic Kingdom of Heaven, and the spy thriller Physique of Lies. Not all of his movies hit, however Scott at all times does what he needs, as demonstrated by his metaphysical Alien prequel Prometheus or the over-the-top biopic The Home of Gucci.
Regardless of his success amongst audiences and critics, Scott has simply three Finest Director nominations and nil wins.
8. Andrei Tarkovsky
The genius behind movies akin to Solaris and Stalker, Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky strove to make style motion pictures that transcended these genres. An arduous formalist who created advanced footage generally out of step with trendy audiences, Tarkovsky challenged viewers to rethink the chances of cinema.
Like Bergman in Sweden, Tarkovsky sought to plum the non secular depths of his characters. Andrei Rublev, a three-hour-plus biography of the titular non secular painter, got here to theaters regardless of disruption from the Russian authorities. The haunting Solaris grew to become a success, regardless of its surreal strategy to sci-fi.
Tarkovsky’s movies received awards from nations throughout the globe, however by no means from the Movement Image Academy, which by no means even nominated him for Finest Director.
9. Paul Thomas Anderson
Besides maybe for Wes Anderson (and he does have an Oscar for a brief movie), Paul Thomas Anderson is now the only real trendy grasp and not using a Finest Director Academy Award. Anderson’s 1997 sophomore characteristic Boogie Nights established him as one of many younger auteurs of his era, alongside Quentin Tarantino and later Christopher Nolan.
Whereas these different two took house the {hardware}, for As soon as Upon a Time… In Hollywood and Oppenheimer, respectively, Anderson has nothing however a handful of nominations. That reality is shocking given how well-regarded his work is amongst critics.
Whereas Boogie Nights and his follow-up Magnolia borrowed an excessive amount of from Martin Scorsese, Anderson confirmed a dexterous thoughts and progressive cinematic strategy in There Will Be Blood, The Grasp, and Phantom Thread.
10. Agnès Varda
Like Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda helped inaugurate the French New Wave motion within the Nineteen Sixties earlier than shifting on to numerous topics. It doesn’t matter what she shot, Varda retained an curiosity within the pure and searched for methods to convey the reality to the display.
Her first motion pictures, akin to Cléo from 5 to 7 and Kung Fu Grasp, had been shot on location and combined non-professional actors with amateurs, discovering notes of grace and humor in her characters. Her documentaries, akin to Black Panthers and Faces Locations, took audiences into the center of various communities, placing in any other case ignored or maligned figures on the display.
The Academy gave Varda an honorary Oscar in 2017, making her the primary feminine director to earn the award. However that’s nonetheless not sufficient to acknowledge an individual Martin Scorsese referred to as “One of many Gods of Cinema.”
11. David Lynch
David Lynch isn’t for everybody. Even when making a would-be blockbuster with 1984’s Dune, Lynch can not assist however put his idiosyncratic stamp on the initiatives. Lynch loves dream logic, mannered performances, and an curiosity within the surreal.
And but, Lynch continues to encourage filmmakers throughout each style. From his memorable characteristic debut Eraserhead to his four-hour digital epic Inland Empire, Lynch captures a way of dread and longing that others hope to copy.
Moreover, Lynch generally does win over the general public, as when the TV sequence Twin Peaks grew to become a sensation in 1989. However he has by no means received over the Academy, who nominated Lynch for Finest Director 3 times, and by no means gave him the award.
12. Howard Hawks
It’s honest to say that Howard Hawks outlined motion pictures as we all know them right now. Though Hawks had been working in Hollywood since 1916, it was his transition to the sound period that helped set the usual for Blockbuster pacing. In response to legend, Hawks used a stopwatch to time his actors’ dialogue, paying shut consideration to their rhythms.
Because of this technique, Hawks created a number of the most propulsive motion pictures of all time, together with the Western Rio Bravo, the noir The Massive Warmth, and the comedy His Lady Friday. It doesn’t matter what style he labored in, Hawks knew preserve the viewers engaged and entertained, growing a cinematic construction employed by many auteurs after him.
After nominating him for Finest Director for Sergeant York in 1941, who misplaced with fellow nominee Orson Welles to John Ford, the Academy gave Hawks an honorary award in 1971.
13. Krzysztof Kieślowski
The Polish-born Kieślowski got here to the eye of American cineastes through the 90s indie growth. Kieślowski had been making wonderful movies such because the realist The Scar or the ten-part assortment The Dekalog in his native nation. But it surely was his later breakouts that compelled the remainder of the world to take discover.
His 1991 movie The Double Lifetime of Veronique took the doppelgänger themes popularized by Hitchcock. His last three movies, the Three Colours trilogy, paint advanced portraits, every located by a unique feeling, represented by a shade within the French flag.
These crossover movies earned Kieślowski Finest Director nominations, however no wins. Maybe the Academy thought Kieślowski was firstly of his profession, however he died on the age of 54 in 1996.
14. Fritz Lang
In 1927, Fritz Lang directed Metropolis, a silent pro-labor fantasy movie written by his spouse, Thea von Harbou. That film featured Brigitte Helm as Maria the Machine Individual, one of many first robots in cinema. Even when Metropolis had been the lone notable film Lang ever made, then he would nonetheless deserve at the least one Finest Director Oscar. However the German filmmaker was simply firstly of his profession, one that will proceed when he got here to America.
A founding father of German Expressionism, Lang helped pioneer the surreal designs and robust blacks of the sub-genre, as seen in movies akin to Dr. Mabuse the Gambler and M., each made in his house nation. Lang took that strategy to Hollywood, the place he established the visible model of movie noir, as seen in classics like The Massive Warmth and Scarlet Avenue.
Lang’s transition to Hollywood helped convey temper and complexity to American motion pictures. And but, the Academy by no means even gave Lang an honorary Oscar.
15. John Carpenter
The Academy has an extended historical past of ignoring style, particularly horror. And that’s to their discredit, as indicated by John Carpenter‘s profession. From 1978 to 1988, Carpenter went on a nine-film run, producing motion pictures of both nice or wonderful high quality. His motion pictures Halloween, The Factor, and Massive Bother in Little China produced a few of cinema’s most enduring characters and proceed to thrill audiences right now.
Carpenter achieved his success by way of measured, clever filmmaking. His motion pictures characteristic exact digicam actions, evocative blocking, and unforgettable soundtracks, usually composed and carried out by Carpenter.
Carpenter is likely one of the finest pure administrators of the previous fifty years, a person who impressed legions of filmmakers. And but, outdoors of the award for Finest Dwell Motion Quick Movie for The Resurrection of Broncho Billy, which he co-wrote and edited, Carpenter has been shut out by the Academy.
16. Pedro Almodóvar
Given its conservative streak, it’s simple to see why the Movement Image Academy wouldn’t give a lot consideration to Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar. Almodóvar makes motion pictures of extra: extreme humor, extreme emotion, and extreme power. His unapologetic melodramas akin to Pepi, Luci, Bom and Regulation of Want combine jokes and frank sexuality, refusing to stick to a single tone.
Whereas such an strategy frustrates some viewers, it provides others a way of recognition and liberation. Almodóvar movies characteristic nuanced feminine characters performed by excellent actresses, together with Cecilia Roth and Penélope Cruz. He tells tales of LGBTQ+ characters that many different filmmakers ignore.
Almodóvar’s All About My Mom received Finest International Image and Speak to Her received Finest Unique Screenplay, however he by no means received Finest Director.
17. Paul Verhoeven
Regardless of selecting occasional provications, the Academy doesn’t usually reward confrontation. And Paul Verhoeven lives to impress.
After making a number of boundary-pushing and political movies in his native Amsterdam, Verhoeven got here to America to work within the Hollywood system. Slightly than tone down his aesthetic, Verhoeven created subversive blockbusters akin to Robocop, Showgirls, and Whole Recall.
On the floor, these don’t sound like movies that deserve Awards recognition. Nonetheless, Verhoeven mixes a eager intelligence in together with his surprising spectacles, proving that Hollywood motion pictures will be each thought-provoking and entertaining.
That must be the kind of filmmaking that the Academy helps, however simply two Verhoeven movies have ever been nominated: Finest International Movie for his Dutch movie Turkish Delight and Finest Visible Results for his worst American film Hole Man.
18. Buster Keaton
To this present day, the Academy ignores stunts, regardless of the pure cinematic spectacle they create. Even when carried out by an A-lister like Tom Cruise within the Mission: Unattainable motion pictures or occurring in blockbusters just like the John Wick sequence, stunts don’t get the popularity they deserve.
By that rely, one can perceive why vaudevillian turned filmmaker Buster Keaton would by no means win Finest Director. However understanding doesn’t make it appear proper. Drawing from his years on stage, Keaton mixed tight comedian timing with formidable gags and an indefatigable honesty. When the home dropped round him in Steamboat Invoice Jr., Keaton ensured that audiences noticed the actual home fall. When his character clung to the cow-catcher of a prepare in The Normal, Keaton ensured that audiences may see the hazard he skilled.
The Academy gave Keaton an Honorary Award in 1959, however that is still far too little, far too late.
19. David Cronenberg
On one hand, David Cronenberg began making low-budget gross-out movies in his native Canada. On the opposite, few administrators have been in a position to visualize psychological depth with as a lot immediacy as Cronenberg. Even throughout his preliminary exploitation part, when he made icky options like The Brood and Shivers, Cronenberg plumbed the depths of the human psyche.
With a filmography that features the cyberpunk basic Scanners, the Don DeLillo adaptation Cosmopolis, and the sci-fi nice The Fly, Cronenberg has labored on high-brow and low-brow materials.
Disappointing because the Academy’s refusal to acknowledge Cronenberg could also be, it doesn’t appear to have stopped him. As demonstrated by his most up-to-date image, the weird and hanging Crimes of the Future (2022), the 80-year-old iconoclast follows his personal path.
20. Sergio Leone
Whereas folks use the time period “Spaghetti Western” as an insult, the movies of Italian director Sergio Leone deserve nothing however respect. Leone gave the style a brand new grittiness, filling motion pictures akin to The Good, The Unhealthy, and The Ugly and As soon as Upon a Time within the West with sweaty, soiled males who leered at ladies and cackled at enemies. On the similar time, Leone intensified the mythic qualities of the style, turning the hanging of a prison or the escape of horse thieves into the stuff of legend.
In fact, Leone achieved his objectives by way of top-notch collaborators akin to Clint Eastwood and composer Ennio Morricone. But it surely was Leone’s sense of timing, compelling shot choice, and expertise for tone management that made his formidable initiatives work.
Even many years after he died in 1989, Leone continues to enrapture filmgoers and encourage filmmakers, with out even a single Academy Award nomination.
21. Wim Wenders
Oppenheimer might have received the Finest Image Oscar for 2023, and the Finest International Language Movie Oscar might have gone to Anatomy of a Fall, however the precise finest film of that yr was Good Days. The story of a humble public bathroom cleaner in Tokyo, Good Days demonstrated the facility of cinema to plumb the depths of a single, virtually silent particular person.
Good Days comes from Wim Wenders, a German filmmaker with an eclectic oeuvre and a expertise for crafting considerate, quiet movies. After his 1970 debut Summer time within the Metropolis, Wenders made shifting motion pictures world wide, together with the attractive neo-Western Paris, Texas and the romantic fantasy Wings of Want. Wenders has additionally directed many highly effective documentaries, akin to Buena Vista Social Membership and Tokyo-Ga, about fellow director Yasujirō Ounces.
This spectacular filmography has garnered a couple of nominations however no Finest Director Oscars.
22. Kelly Reichardt
A real pupil of Neo-Realism, director Kelly Reichardt makes well-observed, small-stakes motion pictures concerning the American West. Even when following settlers within the Northwest, as in Meek’s Cutoff or First Cow, Reichardt’s movies concern themselves with friendships discovered and braveness misplaced, not with shoot-outs or daring escapes.
Working with excellent performers akin to Michelle Williams, Lily Gladstone, and Hong Chau, Reichardt substitutes massive set items with explorations of the human psyche. With out permitting her movies to change into didactic or uninteresting, she captures the entire complexity within the easy life.
Leaving apart the truth that the Academy has solely awarded two ladies, Kathryn Bigelow and Chloé Zhou, with the Finest Director Oscar, Reichardt’s refined strategy goes in opposition to an establishment that prefers loud simplicity. However in a greater world, Reichardt would have already got one Finest Director Oscar on her desk, with room for extra to come back.
