Will Regina King be nominated for Best Director? It'd be a first in more than one way.
Thursday, March 4, 2021 at 4:00PM by Eurocheese
All Oscar season, I’ve heard a comment that didn’t sit quite right with me. When discussing Regina King’s Oscar chances for a Best Director nomination, the belief was that because she is a well-known actress, her nomination was more likely. Is that true, when we look at previous Best Director nominees? My knee jerk reaction has been 'tell that to Ben Affleck and Bradley Cooper', two of the most surprising Oscar snubs in the category over the last decade. Does Best Director typically resist award winning actors? And would King be an unusual choice for a nominee? My answer to both questions is yes, and before you object, I brought receipts.
There have certainly been acclaimed actors (mostly white males, of course) that have crossed from the acting world to become acclaimed directors. Examples typically fall into a few specific categories...
The first category is a windfall year of success where the Best Director winner was also nominated for acting in their own film. Clint Eastwood managed to pull this off twice, for Best Picture winners Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. Warren Beatty, who had been nominated in both categories before, also managed it when he won Best Director for Reds. This also happened for Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves and Woody Allen, whose only acting nomination came the same year as his Director win for Annie Hall.
There’s also a group of Best Director nominees who landed acting nominations in their windfall year, but went home with only the acting trophy. Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet may have won Best Picture, but he walked away from the evening with the Best Actor prize alone. Roberto Benigni was also nominated for Best Director when he danced across chairs to take his Best Actor prize for Life is Beautiful. George Clooney is a bit of an odd case – he won Best Supporting Actor the year he was nominated for Best Director, but it was for a different film. Each of these cases have something in common, though – none of these actor/directors were ever nominated for Best Director again. In the history of the Academy Awards, no person has won both an acting trophy and the Best Director award.
This leads me to Regina King. If she is nominated for Best Director this year, she will of course be the first woman of color nominated in the category (a shared honor, presumably, with Chloe Zhao if it happens). But that wouldn't be the only first! If nominated she will be the first acting winner in the history of the Oscars to later receive a Best Director nomination, and I assume that the members of the Directors Branch are aware of this. Barbra Streisand was notably unable to pull off this feat, both times she was in the conversation after winning Best Director at the Globes for Yentl (1983), and helming the Best Picture nominated Prince of Tides (1991). She had famously won Best Actress for her debut Funny Girl (1968).
King’s directorial debut One Night in Miami immediately received critical acclaim with its festival bows at Venice and Toronto in September. I have no doubt it will go on to multipl nominations on Oscar morning, including Best Picture. If I had to guess, though, my sense is that the Directors Branch in particular resists new directors who have received acclaim in other areas of their career. While there is no doubt King would be a deserving nomineee, this will be her biggest hurdle.
I should also point that there are a number of actors and actresses who have crossed from acting earlier in their career to become acclaimed Best Director nominees – Robert Redford (who scored a Best Actor nomination before his Best Director win), John Huston (who scored an acting nod after winning Best Director), John Cassavetes, Mel Gibson, Jordan Peele, Greta Gerwig… the list goes on. Actors learn their craft and want to explore other areas over the course of their career, so we will no doubt see this happen again and again. The question becomes, how comfortable will directors be inviting successful actors to receive the highest honor in their field? I get the sense that the Academy pushes success in one direction or another. One day we will surely see someone win Oscars for both directing and acting, but it’s telling that we haven’t yet seen that crossover in almost a century worth of Oscars.
Don’t get me wrong – if Regina King is nominated for Best Director, it will be an exciting achievement and she might very well be the first person to win for both acting and directing. Does her recent Supporting Actress win give her an advantage in the race, though, or does it make her path more difficult? Tell us what you think in the comments.
Reader Comments (27)
Since Zhao is pretty much guaranteed, I have little hope that King would get a nomination. They can’t even nominate one woman most years, let alone two, or three with Fennell in the conversation.
I don't think she'll make it. One Night in Miami is well directed and opened up nicely, but this category has moved away from directors who work with actors is the primary draw (as hers it is here), and moved to a place that is far more celebratory of directors who are a bit flashier, engage more strongly with visuals, and where you can really feel their voice and perspective. This isn't to say that any of that is missing, but one of the real strengths of this film, in a Sydney Pollack/Mike Nichols way, is how much she lets the actors and writers carry the ideas of the story. However, the academy doesn't really go for that anymore.
Eurocheese - I like what you said about having acclaim in other careers being the biggest hurdle for the Academy/ There's something funny about how a lot of the names you listed near the end - Redford, Cassavetes, Gerwig - did not actually get a lot of nominations for their acting careers before getting recognized as directors. If King makes it in she'll be a trailblazer for actors who already have crowded mantels. I think she's got a good shot, even if I'm scared she'll miss. I almost wonder if Fennell having a less prominent career as an actor could be to her advantage.
The one thing that Regina King might have going for her is the fact that this isn’t her first directing project. She’s directed episodes of TV series like Insecure, Shameless, Scandal and This Is Us over the past couple of years. If there is some overlap in the Director’s branch at the Academy with those directors that work in television, I feel like she might have more support for the nomination than we think. She also heavily participates in camera equipment and DGA events in Hollywood. It is in part because of that industry participation that Regina started “coming out of nowhere” to win all of those Emmys and eventually an Oscar.
I’m not saying that she will 100% score a nom or that the Academy might not go for a flashier Director, but I do feel like she’s got a better chance than someone like Bradley Cooper did.
I think she deserves a nom and is in fifth place right now. Unlike Ma Rainey (haven't seen The Father yet), she found a way to visually open up a play and make it feel cinematic and fluid, not stationary and stagey.
Also working in her favor.. if not her, then who? If we concede Zhao, Chung, Sorkin, and Fincher are 4 locks, that leaves her vying with Greengrass, Fennell, Spike Lee, and maybe Shaka King for the fifth slot. I think she's more likely than any of them with the exception of Fennell, who's her main competition.
I honestly think something in her favour is that she is easy to root for. She's got a great reputation as a wonderful human being that people like being around and working with, so rooting for her recognition and continued success is easy. I guess it's just a matter of how snobby the directing branch gets, but I feel a lot more comfortable with her chances than I did with say, Washington for Fencer or Cooper a few years ago.
The fact that it's pretty clear she's not winning probably helps her too tbh
Does not deserve it but sure.
I don't think she deserves the nomination, but she will probably get it, as it will be a wak year for international films at the Oscars. Directors of international films can't promote the way they used to, so Vinterberg, who would be a great choice, is not very likely to show up a la Pawlikowski in 2018.
Regina King reminds me more of Jodie Foster and Ron Howard. All began in the business as children. Each endured into adult features. Foster has yet to see her directorial efforts recognized. Howard was snubbed before finally winning an Oscar for A Beautiful Mind. I think filmmakers who grow beyond childhood success into more elevated artistic achievements garner extra attention.
If nominated, she would share the first woman of color nominated distinction with Zhao. Hope she makes in with Fennell.
I think she’s in now. The film is popular, and she’s campaigning hard. With Fincher, Zhao, and Sorkin as more locks, I think the last two slots can go a variety of ways, but they’ll be to Picture nominees.
She'll be a good nominee....like the grandma in Minari. What a great runner-up to Close she would be! Get that nomination and hopefully an Asian actress can breakthrough for the win some year soon. Journalists need to get loud like they do one a single predominantly white year for nominations and the outrage for the Black actors they scream from the rafters. Americans are alas very black and white in race relations/representation.
King is in. This is the year of BLM and female representation. She'll be the first black woman ever nominated in director (an honor that should have gone to Ava DuVernay, but I digress), and that will be something the directing branch will want to see happen. She isn't Bradley Cooper or Ben Affleck, and she should be grateful for that.
I know alotsa pundits r predicting its King v Fennell for the last spot, but what if Fincher is the one who get the surprise snub??
I dun u/stand why is Fincher consider a lock? Among the possible best pic nominees, Mank is losing steam faster than the rest of its competition. Many who saw it on Netflix din like it as much as his prev works...If FIncher get nom, its bcos of his status in the director's branch, not bcos of his directing skill.
Seriously, this might be the year we saw more than two female dir get nominated!! Fingers X!
J -- good note. i added a sentence about that to eurocheese's post.
James -- that's an interesting distinction. It's easy to forget how long Regina has actually been working because her career was such a steadily growing thing,
24fanatic -- also a good point... though i still dont understand their aversion to Bradley Coopr who was so obviously instantlly skilled as a director.
I've been saying I think she'll not be nominated, but now that I've seen the film I'm saying that would be a real "snub," and I don't like using that word. But she really deserves a nomination. I hope she gets one, but I wouldn't be money on it.
One Night in Miami is more an actor's showcase bung so good on her if she does get the nod better than Fennell.
King won't have the advantage Zhao has as being seen as an auteur. And since she didn't write her movie, her achievement will be seen as less personal. The directors' branch may Rob Reiner King.
She DOES deserve it! But I'm not sure she'll get it, for the reasons stated by Joe G.
Interesting counterpoint from 24fanatic, though. And I agree with Alex D that she just strikes me as having a lot of goodwill in the industry because she's likable and hard-working. We shall see.
As great as it is that Chloe Zhao is the clear frontrunner (I think she’ll probably win even if Nomadland ends up losing Best Picture), it would be pretty disappointing if she were the only woman nominated for Best Director given we’ve never had this many women in serious contention before.
I think something standing in her way for the nomination that's not being talked about as much is the source material. The only director that has been nominated for an adaptation of a play in the last 35 years is Ron Howard for FROST/NIXON. The directors branch has been much more drawn to more visual filmmaking and theatrical adaptations are seen much more as acting showcases. When adaptations of plays do pop up in Best Picture, that's usually the director that gets left out in favor of a lone director whose work is more auteurial.
Thinking about folks like Denzel Washington for FENCES (a Critics Choice nominee) or Rob Reiner for A FEW GOOD MEN and Mike Nichols for CLOSER (both Golden Globe nominees). John Patrick Shanley was never ever in the conversation for DOUBT despite the film's strong showing with 4 acting noms and a screenplay nom (you'd have to imagine it would have been in Best Picture in a ten-wide year)
Fennell had WAY trickier material to work with, I reckon, and had to deal with a film that shifted its tone constantly, AND managed to find a way to make it work (imperfectly, sure, but let's not all pretend One Night in Miami is a perfect film, either).
I thought One Night in Miami was directed just fine, but to be nominated for an Oscar for it? I know, I know, how many abhorrent decisions has the Academy made in this category alone... I'd be totally fine with it, I guess...
But I don't see the Oscar-worth in the work.
I really do think it's 50/50 if she gets nominated. I can see it, but there are so many other viable contenders outside of Zhao and Fincher, who I think are the only sure things. Her film is a strong best picture contender, and like many have mentioned, she's very well-loved in the industry. I do worry that films considered more of an "actor's showcase" usually have their directors left out on the sidelines.
I'm not entirely convinced of Sorkin either. He's likely, but I could also see him going the way of recent director snubs like Martin McDonagh and Peter Farrelly - two directors who had best picture juggernauts that were left out on Oscar morning for more visionary auteurs (Paul Thomas Anderson and Pawel Pawlikowski, respectively).
Emerald Fennell, Spike Lee, Florian Zeller, Lee Isaac Chung, Paul Greengrass, and maybe Shaka King are all on the brink and I could see a combination of any of those showing up as the final three on Oscar morning. Or if Oscar really wants to go there - Kelly Reichardt.
I think King did a professional job of direction with One Night in Miami but to me her work simply doesn't stand out as a remarkable achievement or anything that truly stands out from the pack. That said, the academy has always awarded flat-out mediocre people like Ron Howard quite often, so nominating King certainly wouldn't be a travesty or anything. But I'd still prefer to see directors who are intensely individualistic get the top honors. Let's see what she does next!
To me, TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 and MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM were basically "let the actors act" movies. On the other hand, I felt that ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI was a real film. Okay, it's not a visionary piece of true cinema like EVE'S BAYOU or WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN (talk about unjust exclusions from awards consideration), but I'm pretty sure a couple of less-deserving people will get in this year than Regina King.
I think the directors branch have stopped nominating actor-directors (Affleck and Cooper in particular) because they have realised that once the entire academy starts voting the actors branch are more likely to get behind the actors and take them to a win ( eg Gibson and Costner)
@ Matt: Really good point! I'd have to think that Zhao is so far in the lead and will get so many voters from craft branches that it won't matter much if King is nodded too. She won't take anything away from anyone beyond partisans b/c even the actors branch will overwhelmingly go for Zhao too. It's just that sort of year of inevitable frontrunner. Not that anyone needs to throw King a bone. She merits the nomination all on her own, and I'd love to see three women make the cut in director (Zhao, King, and Fennell). I do wonder if outcomes would have changed with Affleck and Cooper had they been nodded in director. Affleck definitely over Lee, but not Cooper over Cuaron.