Golden Globe Musings: Best Director – Motion Picture

Golden Globe nominations for this year will be announced in just a few weeks, so here’s a survey of the contenders and the most likely predictions at this time. Weigh in with your thoughts, and let me know if I’ve left off anything important. A reminder that the Globes are wildly unpredictable and that it is still a bit early to gauge the reception or awards potential of a number of the so-called “contenders” at this point.

Last year’s nominees:
Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
James Cameron (Avatar)
Clint Eastwood (Invictus)
Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)
Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)

There’s a contender in this race whose film doesn’t have nearly as good a chance anywhere else. That’s Clint Eastwood (Hereafter), who has four times managed to get nominated here without a corresponding Best Motion Picture – Drama nomination (in addition to the three times that he did). The sure things here are David Fincher (The Social Network), Danny Boyle (127 Hours), Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech), and Christopher Nolan (Inception). I think that David O’Russell (The Fighter) won’t make it in this round, though he easily could, as could Sofia Coppola (Somewhere), Roman Polanski (The Ghost Writer), Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan), and Joel & Ethan Coen (True Grit).

Predicted nominees:
Danny Boyle (127 Hours)
Clint Eastwood (Hereafter)
David Fincher (The Social Network)
Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech)
Christopher Nolan (Inception)