Premature Oscar Predictions: The 2017 Best Director Academy Award Contenders

As we learned at the Oscars this year, the winners of Best Director and Best Picture don't always go hand-in-hand. And while yesterday we took a very premature swing at the movies that might become 2017 Academy Award Best Picture nominees, if any of those come true and go on to win the big prizes, don't assume Best Director will follow suit (for another recent example, the year "Argo" won the big prize, it was Ang Lee who took directing honors; Ben Affleck wasn't even nominated).

READ MORE: Retrospective: The Films of Ang Lee

All that to say, taking a very preliminary look at who could be in the mix for five slots for Best Director in 2017 sees a lot of possibility. Martin Scorsese will be back in the mix with a new film, as will Ang Lee, Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg. And those veterans will pose a challenge to rising filmmakers like Amma Asante, Pablo Larraín, and even Nate Parker, who is coming in hot out of the Sundance Film Festival with the buzzed-about...