Oscar Winner Predictions: Best Director

The competition: Michael Hazanavicius (The Artist), Alexander Payne (The Descendants), Martin Scorsese (Hugo), Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris), Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life)

Previous winners: Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech), Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker), Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire), Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men), Martin Scorsese (The Departed), Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain)
My winner: Susanne Bier (In a Better World)
Who should win: Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
Who will win: Two men in this category have won once before – Woody Allen back in 1977 on his first try for “Annie Hall,” and Martin Scorsese for his most recent film prior to this one, “The Departed.” This is the seventh nomination for both, and the second for Payne and Malick. Four times in the past fifteen years, a director has won for a film that ultimately lost Best Picture. Scorsese won the Golden Globe, but over the past few years, despite a bigger name director being in the mix and seemingly ahead, the victor has been in line with the Best Picture winner. I think the same will happen this year, leading first-time nominee Michel Hazanavicius to his first Oscar.