In the entire 95-year history of the Academy Awards, only one woman has been nominated for the Best Director Oscar twice: Jane Campion for “The Piano” (1993 nominee) and “The Power of the Dog” (2021 winner). The other six females to contend for directing are Lina Wertmuller for “Seven Beauties” (1976 nominee), Sofia Coppola for “Lost in Translation” (2003 nominee), Kathryn Bigelow for “The Hurt Locker” (2009 winner), Greta Gerwig for “Lady Bird” (2017 nominee), Chloe Zhao for “Nomadland” (2020 winner) and Emerald Fennell for “Promising Young Woman” (2020 nominee). At the upcoming 2024 Oscars, Campion’s record as the only female to reap two separate director mentions could be matched if “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig earns her second bid.
Campion received her first Best Director nom for “The Piano,” about a mute piano player. The New Zealander lost to Steven Spielberg for “Schindler’s List” but did not go home empty-handed that year, as she won the Best Original Screenplay award. She also directed Holly Hunter and Anna Paquin to Oscar wins in Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively.
Twenty-eight years later, Campion entered the Oscar record books when she became the first woman to earn a second bid for Best Director. She prevailed for directing Netflix’s “The Power of the Dog,” a psychological period Western, becoming that film’s only victory from a whopping 12 nominations. Campion was also up for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture at that year’s ceremony.
Gerwig earned stellar reviews for her solo directorial debut “Lady Bird,” a coming-of-age story starring Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf as a complex daughter and mother. She ultimately lost the 2017 director prize to Guillermo del Toro (“The Shape of Water”). She was also up for writing “Lady Bird” in the Best Original Screenplay race, which was ultimately awarded to Jordan Peele (“Get Out”).
In 2019, Gerwig scored her third career Academy Award bid for Best Adapted Screenplay for “Little Women,” based on the 1868 novel by Louisa May Alcott. However, she was snubbed in Oscar’s Best Director category despite reaping directing nominations at the Critics Choice Awards and the Gold Derby Awards, and winning at the National Society of Film Critics Awards.
That brings us to “Barbie,” aka the biggest blockbuster of the 2023 calendar year. Gerwig is eligible to earn two Oscar nominations this year for directing and co-writing (with her husband Noah Baumbach) the fantasy comedy about the Mattel doll. As of this writing, she’s in fifth place to win Best Director in our combined odds, behind category leaders Christopher Nolan (“Oppenheimer”) and Martin Scorsese (“Killers of the Flower Moon”). Next up is Celine Song (“Past Lives”) in third place and Jonathan Glazer (“The Zone of Interest”) in fourth place.
Over in the Best Adapted Screenplay race, Gerwig and Baumbach are currently resting in third place to win the Oscar, with Scorsese and Eric Roth (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) in the lead and Nolan (“Oppenheimer”) in the runner-up position. Rounding out the writing category, per Gold Derby’s racetrack odds, are Glazer (“The Zone of Interest”) and Tony McNamara (“Poor Things”).
Do YOU think Greta Gerwig will become the next Jane Campion at the Oscars by reaping her second Best Director nomination? Be sure to sound off down in the comments section.
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