10 directors guaranteed to win an Oscar before they die
The Academy Awards don’t always recognise the best filmmakers of all time; many brilliant directors like Robert Altman and Sidney Lumet died without ever receiving an Oscar, and there are living legends like Brian De Palma and John Carpenter who have never even been nominated. As much as the Oscars are a determination of merit, they’re also a game that involves marketing, campaigning, and strategy.
The Oscars can seem a little bit silly when looking at the biggest winners; certainly, no one would have anticipated that Kenneth Branagh would have more wins on his resumé than Martin Scorsese. It’s clear that some of the most recent ‘Best Picture’ winners, such as CODA and Everything Everywhere All At Once, have already not aged well.
That being said, most legendary directors end up getting recognised in some way or another, even if they don’t take home a ‘Best Director’ prize. Wes Anderson won for ‘Best Live Action Short’, Alfred Hitchcock was a producer on the ‘Best Picture’ winner Rebecca, Stanley Kubrick won for ‘Best Visual Effects’ on 2001: A Space Odyssey, and George Lucas won a lifetime achievement award; there’s also many directors who have only won for screenplay, such as Quentin Tarantino, Alexander Payne, Jordan Peele, and Spike Lee.
There have certainly been some unexpected twists in how the Oscars handle their process of voting, as the last few years have seen an uptick in support for international contenders and filmmakers from all over the world. Although it is fun that the Oscars feel unpredictable, and don’t just repeat the same awards given out by the Golden Globes and other precursors, it seems more than likely that ten filmmakers will end up winning some sort of prize before they die.
10 directors guaranteed to win an Oscar before they die:
Todd Haynes<br>
Todd Haynes has remarkably only received a single Oscar nomination for ‘Best Original Screenplay’ for Far From Heaven, a historical romantic drama that was also recognised for its score, cinematography, and lead performance by Julianne Moore. That being said, Haynes has directed more than a few films that have been major contenders in acting, writing, and craft categories, including Carol, May December, and I’m Not There, all of which he was considered to be “snubbed” for in the Best Director category.
Given how the Oscars have strived to become more inclusive, it would seem unlikely that one of the most influential LGBTQ+ filmmakers of his generation wouldn’t be recognised at some point in his career, especially when considering the many award-winning stars who clearly love working with him. Whatever Haynes’ next film ends up being, and where it ends up debuting, it will likely be considered for many of the top prizes.
Terrence Malick<br>
Terrence Malick is one of the most unusual filmmakers of all time, given the incredible gaps in the release of his films. Malick never received the credit he deserved for his first two neo-westerns, Badlands and Days of Heaven, both of which would go on to be cited as being some of the best films ever made. Malick was more broadly recognised by the Academy for his comeback film, the 1998 war epic The Thin Red Line, as well as his 2011 metaphysical drama, Tree of Life.
Malick has been tinkering away at an experimental religious epic for many years, but it’s rumoured that it might finally debut in 2026 at the Cannes Film Festival. It’s hard to imagine Oscar voters not wanting to find a way to acknowledge Malick, who is frankly quite overdue for a win of some sort.
Denis Villeneuve<br>
Denis Villeneuve is on a hot streak not seen by any filmmaker since Christopher Nolan. While Enemy was shut out at the Oscars, and Sicario and Prisoners were only given a few tech nominations, Villeneuve earned major accolades for Arrival and brought Blade Runner 2049 to three Oscar wins. Although the Oscars typically steer away from awarding science fiction films, Villeneuve managed to get both Dune films nominated for ‘Best Picture’, even though he was rudely shut out of the ‘Best Director’ race for both.
It’s possible that the third Dune film could perform like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which won a gobsmacking eleven Oscars, in what felt like a “make up award” intended to honour the achievements that Peter Jackson had for the entire trilogy. However, he could also have to wait, as Nolan did, until after his blockbuster franchise is over, and will end up winning for a standalone project.
Ridley Scott<br>
Ridley Scott has the novelty of having directed a ‘Best Picture’ winner but still not being an Oscar winner; he was not a listed producer on Gladiator, and ended up losing the ‘Best Director’ trophy to Steven Soderbergh for Traffic (a win that may have been influenced by the fact that Soderbergh was nominated twice in the category, as he also directed Erin Brokovich the same year).
Scott has been nominated for Black Hawk Down and Thelma & Louise, and has recently helmed many significant contenders, including The Martian, All the Money in the World, and House of Gucci.
Although Gladiator II didn’t end up getting the strongest reviews, Scott works at such a quick pace and has so many active projects in development that the Oscars will have no other choice but to finally give the 88-year-old director the prize that he should have won decades prior for Alien or Blade Runner.
Greta Gerwig<br>
Greta Gerwig has pulled off a rare feat in getting ‘Best Picture’ nominations for the first three films that she directed, and also getting screenplay nominations for them all. It seemed like she had a good shot at winning for each of them, and there’s been no shortage of anticipation for her upcoming work on Narnia.
It’s unclear if the Oscar voters will find it in their hearts to award a family-friendly CS Lewis adaptation released on Netflix with many major trophies, but Gerwig has a long career ahead of her and could very well end up winning in any director or screenplay category in the near future. There’s also the possibility that she could end up winning as a producer or co-writer on a film that she didn’t direct, as she frequently works with her husband, Noah Baumbach, on films such as Greenberg and Frances Ha.
Noah Baumbach<br>
Noah Baumbach may be now best known as “Greta Gerwig’s husband” by a younger generation of cinephiles, but he has been making great dramedies ever since his breakthrough film Kicking and Screaming in 1995. Baumbach was finally recognised by the Academy when his scathing divorce film The Squid and the Whale was nominated for ‘Best Original Screenplay’, and he helmed a major ‘Best Picture’ contender in Marriage Story, which won Laura Dern the ‘Best Supporting Actress’ prize.
It’s unclear whether Baumbach’s latest film, the self-depricating Hollywood satire Jay Kelly, will end up being recognised by the Oscars, as the film’s reviews have ranged from all-out raves to accusations of pretentiousness. That being said, Baumbach is simply far too strong a writer to be ignored for too much longer by the writing branch of the Academy Awards, especially if he and his wife continue to channel their efforts on collaborative projects.
Bradley Cooper<br>
Bradley Cooper has a groundbreaking 12 Academy Award nominations across five categories, and although he has yet to be recognised in the ‘Best Director category’, it was considered to be a major snub that he was passed over for his amazing work on both A Star is Born and Maestro.
Cooper’s latest film, Is This Thing On?, is a more low-key, character-centric crowdpleaser that may not be seen as “significant” enough for Oscar voters, even if it’s one of his best. That being said, Cooper clearly has the drive and the ambition to win an Oscar, and at this point, it seems like he’d be more likely to win for directing or writing than he would be for acting. The Oscars certainly do love awarding actors-turned-directors, as previous ‘Best Director’ winners include Warren Beatty, Robert Redford, Mel Gibson, and Kevin Costner.
Richard Linklater<br>
Richard Linklater isn’t just one of the most dynamic directors of all time, but someone willing to put in the work. Linklater famously shot the three entries in the Before trilogy nine years apart in order to observe the evolution of a real couple, and ended up getting ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’ nominations for the latter two.
He also spent twelve years making the coming-of-age drama Boyhood, even if he ended up losing the ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Director’, and ‘Best Original Screenplay’ awards to Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu for Birdman (or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).
Linklater just directed two of the best films of 2025 with Blue Moon and Nouvelle Vague, and if he doesn’t end up getting awarded for either, he could end up getting recognised for his upcoming adaptation of the Steven Sondheim musical Merrily We Roll Along, which he plans to keep shooting with Ben Platt, Paul Mescal, and Beanie Feldstein until 2040.
David Fincher<br>
David Fincher is not only one of the best and most influential directors of the past 30 years, but someone whose Academy Award-nominated films have been subjected to serious reconsideration.
After years of making classics like Se7en, The Game, Fight Club, and Zodiac, Fincher finally earned ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Picture’ nominations for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; he lost in both categories to Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, which is now remembered as being one of the most overrated ‘Best Picture’ winners ever.
Fincher was more infamously passed over when The Social Network, one of the best and most decorated films of the 21st century, lost to The King’s Speech in a ceremony that proved the Oscars were out of touch. The Oscars still need to make it up to Fincher, as he is currently working on The Adventure of Cliff Booth, in which Brad Pitt will be reprising his Oscar-winning role from Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Paul Thomas Anderson<br>
Paul Thomas Anderson is the rare director who has essentially only directed masterpieces; all ten of his feature films to date have been hailed as highly influential and experimental within their genres, and most have received some sort of Oscar recognition in one category or another.
Anderson made a masterpiece in the 1990s (Boogie Nights), the 2000s (There Will Be Blood), the 2010s (Phantom Thread), and his latest instant classic, One Battle After Another, has been picking up nonstop wins from critics’ circles and other awards voting bodies.
Given that nearly every journalistic outlet has named One Battle After Another as the best film of 2025, it would be a major upset if it did not win ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’, especially given that there’s been more backlash to other contenders like Hamnet and Frankenstein.
If it somehow doesn’t win, Anderson is still a young filmmaker who could very well end up making a few other generational classics in the near future.
