8 Oscar Nominees That Deserve To Win (But Will Definitely Lose)

Anybody who's read The Hollywood Reporter's annual Brutally Honest Oscar Ballots series will know that Academy Awards aren't always handed out based on merit. In fact, it's rare to find one of THR's secret Oscar voters voting based on quality; more often than not, a vote will be cast based on what the voter's peers are doing or whether or not they feel a candidate 'deserves' it. Sometimes voters make their decisions without even having watched the movies.

Brogan Morris Jan 25, 2016 1:34 pm2016-01-24T12:36:41-05:00

4) Best Director

Recommended Videos

Will win: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, The Revenant, or Tom McCarthy, Spotlight

Should win: George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road

This year, it seems the director who put up with the most arduous conditions and lived to tell the tale will be the one to take home the Best Director trophy. While Spotlight‘s Tom McCarthy was the frontrunner until only recently, after the Golden Globes it’s looking like Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu – who by all accounts went through hell to get The Revenant made – will be crowned Best Director for the second year running.

If we’re scoring directors on hardship alone, though, George Miller surely outranks Inarritu this year. Just look at Mad Max: Fury Road: it looks like organized chaos. That’s probably in part because, behind the scenes, that’s how it was. Miller spent years working on this film, and remained committed to practical stunts where possible even though CGI would have cut production time down considerably. If a filmmaker had to suffer to win this year, it’s Miller who deserves to be called Best Director.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9