Oscars 2027 Best Director Predictions: Nominees, Contenders, & Winner

Christopher Nolan is looking for another Best Director win at the 2027 Oscars, but many filmmakers are in the mix. Here's who we predict will win.

Published Oct 10, 2026, 12:40 PM EDT

Cooper Hood is the Associate Editor for all new movie releases, in theaters and on streaming. In addition to writing articles about these titles and upcoming releases, he also oversees content planning for each, ensuring that ScreenRant continues to cover major releases for months after their release.

He has written various reviews for ScreenRant that appear on Rotten Tomatoes, coordinated Oscars and San Diego Comic-Con coverage, appeared on CNN to talk about Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, and done select interviews with talent over the years.

Best Director is set to be one of the biggest races for the 2027 Oscars, as some of Hollywood's heavyweights are competing for a coveted win. Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón, Bong Joon-ho, Jane Campion, Christopher Nolan, and Paul Thomas Anderson have won their first directing Oscar in the last decade, and the 99th Academy Awards could give some other visionaries their flowers next.

Yet, it is Nolan, a previous winner, who is looming over the entire category. The Odyssey has been praised as his magnum opus and has been the biggest hit of the year outside of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. But three years after winning Best Director and more for Oppenheimer, the question is whether voters will be ready to crown him again or make him wait a bit longer to give a contemporary their recognition.

That's the overall narrative that could best define the 2027 Best Director Oscar race. It's not Nolan versus the field by any means, but his epic success could make it difficult for Hollywood to overlook his latest cinematic achievement. That's especially true if The Odyssey is a Best Picture favorite, as the Best Picture-winning film has also produced the Best Director winner 72% of the time, including five of the last six years.

Now that October is here and the March 14 ceremony for the 2027 Oscars is drawing closer, it's time for the first look at where the Best Director race stands. Keep an eye on this page all year long, as it will be updated as precursors begin and contenders rise and fall.

The Best Director Nomination Frontrunners

As already mentioned, Nolan is very much a frontrunner for another Best Director Oscar nomination thanks to The Odyssey​​​​​. He's been nominated for two of his last three movies, and it would be a shocking development if the industry overlooks him after what he accomplished with the fantasy epic.

Denis Villeneuve is expected to be one of his biggest threats thanks to Dune: Part Three. The acclaimed filmmaker has somehow never been nominated for Best Director in his career, with the previous two Dune movies going down as major snubs in those years. As long as Villeneuve's final trip to Arrakis lives up to the hype, this figures to be the time voters finally acknowledge everything he's done with the franchise.

ChronoLogic

Rearrange the movies into the correct US release order.

The strong reception to The Invite has given Olivia Wilde an opportunity to earn a nomination for her directing. The Oscars have a poor history of female directors being nominated, but it has improved in recent years. Wilde very well could become the third woman nominated in the category in the last four years.

Wild Horse Nine is poised to be a serious Oscar contender in many categories, with Martin McDonagh figuring to be part of the Best Director equation. His last feature, The Banshees of Inisherin, brought him his first nomination in the category, and his new dark comedy has been equally well-received on the festival circuit.

The other frontrunner at this point in the race is the directing duo behind Netflix's Best Picture contender La Bola Negra, Javier Calvo and Javier Ambross. Initial reviews out of Cannes sang their praises, highlighting how well they pull off a narrative set across multiple time periods. The queer musical epic should dazzle voters with its style and substance, with the duo's directing worthy of this recognition by all accounts.

Others In The Mix For Best Director

Those directors might be at the front of the pack to get nominations, but many others hope to snag one of the five spots. Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the directing duo behind Project Hail Mary, are among the biggest. They've never been nominated before, and their excellent hit sci-fi movie gives them a great chance to earn this recognition. Amazon MGM should push them hard, and their work has been seen the most by people in and out of the industry.

Alejandro G. Iñárritu should not be totally ruled out for Digger. While the movie has proven to be quite divisive, that has also left some passionate defenders on its side. He's already been nominated three times in this category, having won two Best Director Oscars for Birdman and The Revenant.

The festival circuit is responsible for propping up the next group of contenders. Cristian Mungiu is certainly in the mix after Fjord's Cannes debut and Palme d'Or win. Ryusuke Hamaguchi (All of a Sudden), Pawel Pawlikowski (Fatherland), Andrey Zvyagintsev (Minotaur), and Jordan Firstman (Club Kid) are in the race after positive reception at Cannes.

Favorable festival debuts have also put Lee Chang-dong (Possible Love), Mike Leigh (Tender Loving Care), Jesse Eisenberg (The Debut), Tony Gilroy (Behemoth!), Luca Guadagnino (Artificial), Siân Heder (Being Heumann), and Peter Farrelly (I Play Rocky) in the mix.

David Fincher (The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth) and Robert Eggers (Werwulf) remain two wildcards, as neither movie has been seen in full so far. Conversely, Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim are looking to make history as the first directors of a documentary to earn a Best Director Oscar nomination following You Can See Everything's buzzy Telluride launch.

Predicted Best Director Winner

Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon

Given where things stand right now, I predict Christopher Nolan will win another Oscar for Best Director, but it's not a confident pick. There are several filmmakers who have won the Best Director Oscar multiple times. Nolan joining the list wouldn't be strange. Him doing it with back-to-back films is unusual, though.

Only three directors have won Best Director with consecutive films: David Lean, Alfonso Cuarón, and Iñárritu. Historically speaking, the odds are against Nolan winning the category again after doing so with Oppenheimer. However, Lean and Iñárritu got their second wins for epics, which is what Nolan has delivered with The Odyssey.

I can easily see a world where March 14, 2027 comes, and Nolan is accepting another Oscar. However, it would not surprise me if the industry opted to spread the love and give Villeneuve or McDonagh their firsts. The increasingly international voting body could even help get the Javis to victory, especially if La Bola Negra does become the Best Picture favorite.

With The Odyssey at the forefront of the Oscars 2027 season, Nolan is the obvious prediction to make in Best Director for now. The question is whether that will stay the same over the next few months.

Javis, Denis, etc. could take it if there's any voter fatigue for Nolan