Joey Magidson
Well now my friends, the end of this series draws near, as this is one of the final articles for 2026. Alas. Until that moment, however, we press on. Continuing a tradition I’ve been keen on for years, I’m ranking the new crop of Academy Award winners. For nearly all of the Oscar categories, you’ll see me list the top 25 recipients of that prize. Sometimes, our newest winner will appear. Other times, they’ll be relegated to the Honorable Mention category. Who knows, maybe one or two won’t even make the cut? It’s a list series that I’ll do each and every single year, in the weeks after the ceremony concludes. So, while this is a fun way to think about the Oscars in the aftermath of the latest telecast, it’s also a beginning for another column here on the site. Of course, definitely show us your own lists as well, in the comments section below. We’re definitely keen to know what you think!
Another of the biggest categories hits today, as you might imagine…Best Director. The Best Director category has occasionally struggled with being seen as a coattail on the way to Best Picture, but that’s hardly always been the case. One look below will reveal plenty of Director winners that didn’t also take home Picture. For my money, Steven Spielberg has the best win, for Schindler’s List (though his other winner, Saving Private Ryan, isn’t far behind). Other top tier victors include Woody Allen (I know, I know) for Annie Hall, Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker, Bong Joon Ho for Parasite, and Mike Nichols for The Graduate. Where does one of our recent prior winners, Jane Campion, fall this time for her work on The Power of the Dog? What about The Daniels for Everything Everywhere All At Once four years ago? Three years ago, Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer debuted in the top ten. Does he remain? Two years ago, we had Sean Baker for Anora. Do I keep him in a top position again? Of course, there’s also the little matter of our newest winner, Paul Thomas Anderson for One Battle After Another. Does he manage to crack the top ten this first time out like Baker? Read on below to find out…
Here now are what I consider to be the 25 best winners of the Oscar for Best Director, to date:
25. John G. Avildsen – Rocky
24. William Friedkin – The French Connection
23. Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog
22. Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity
21. Oliver Stone – Platoon
20. Miloš Forman – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
19. John Ford – The Grapes of Wrath
18. The Daniels – Everything Everywhere All At Once
17. Francis Ford Coppola – The Godfather Part II
16. Jonathan Demme – The Silence of the Lambs
15. Elia Kazan – On the Waterfront
14. Billy Wilder – The Apartment
13. Martin Scorsese – The Departed
12. David Lean – Lawrence of Arabia
11. Sean Baker – Anora
10. Damien Chazelle – La La Land
9. Michael Curtiz – Casablanca
8. Christopher Nolan – Oppenheimer
7. Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another
6. Steven Spielberg – Saving Private Ryan
5. Mike Nichols – The Graduate
4. Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
3. Woody Allen – Annie Hall
2. Bong Joon Ho – Parasite
1. Steven Spielberg – Schindler’s List
Honorable Mentions: James Cameron – Titanic, Guillermo del Toro – The Shape of Water, Clint Eastwood – Million Dollar Baby, Alejandro G. Iñárritu – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Sam Mendes – American Beauty, and William Wyler – Ben-Hur
Stay tuned for the penultimate category of the year early next week!
This was an interesting challenge because I rewatched a few things , some recently so I made some changes and additions.
25. Leo McCarey ( The Awful Truth)
24. John Ford ( Mrs Miniver)
23. Jane Campion ( The Power of the Dog)
22. Alfonso Curon ( Gravity)
21. Chloe Zhao ( Nomadland)
20. Robert Redford ( Ordinary People)
19. John Ford ( The Grapes of Wrath)
18. Ang Lee ( Brokeback Mountain)
17. Jonathon Demme ( The Silence of the Lambs)
16. Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins ( West Side Story )
15 . Robert Wise ( The Sound of Music)
14. Elia Kazan ( On The Waterfront )
13. Milos Foreman ( Amadeus)
12. The Daniels ( Everything Everywhere All At Once)
11. Christopher Nolan ( Oppenheimer)
10. Coen Brothers ( No Country For Old Men)
9. Billy Wilder ( The Apartment)
8. Alfonso Curon ( Roma )
7. Frank Capra ( It Happened One Night)
6. Michael Curtiz ( Casablanca)
5. Paul Thomas Anderson ( One Battle After Another)
4. Bong Joon Ho ( Parasite)
3. William Wyler ( The Best Years of Our Lives)
2. Steven Spielberg ( Schindler’s List)
1. Bob Fosse ( Cabaret)
HM
James Cameron ( Titanic)
Danny Boyle ( Slumdog Millionaire)
Gullermo Del Toro ( The Shape of Water)
Clint Eastwood ( Unforgiven )
Kevin Costner ( Dances With Wolves)
Michel Hazanvcius ( The Artist)
George Stevens ( A Place in the Sun)
Always good to at least consider changes when these lists get updated!
Of all the competitive categories at the Oscars, Best Director is second maybe only to Best Film Editing as the “trickiest” category to have a strong opinion of, because those are the two categories where the merits of the work are never 100% apparent just from what’s on the screen (Best Adapted Screenplay is probably a distant third place due to the work being derived from pre-existing material, though even then, the screenplay still has to stand on its own within the context of the film).
Plenty of otherwise outstanding films were mainly driven by their producers, with the credited director acting as more of a middleman with no real artistic autonomy (Victor Fleming and Gone with the Wind being the most obvious example, but there are others). Some of the best movies ever made were elevated far more by their scripts and performances than any specific directorial guidance they were under (both of Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s Best Director-winning films immediately come to mind). There are also plenty of times when we later found out a pretty mediocre film would have been far worse had it not been for the heroic efforts of its director fighting for something salvageable throughout a fraught production (like Sam Taylor-Johnson getting into literal on-set shouting matches with Fifty Shades of Grey’s author E.L. James in her efforts to make that movie into something vaguely approaching a watchable and functional narrative, resulting in the only movie of the trilogy that isn’t completely terrible).
If we are separating the “best movie” from the “most accomplished direction of a movie” (and the Academy clearly believes we should, otherwise they’d just have Best Picture and jointly award both the producers and director together), that can be a difficult judgment call. With that said, here’s where I would “rank” them, and I’m more than open-minded to the likelihood that I’m overrating or underrating certain winners:
25) Chloé Zhao – Nomadland
24) Christopher Nolan – Oppenheimer
23) Clint Eastwood – Unforgiven
22) Alfonso Cuarón – Gravity
21) Katheryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
20) Bernardo Bertolucci – The Last Emperor
19) Joel Coen and Ethan Coen – No Country for Old Men
18) Roman Polanski – The Pianist
17) Frank Borzage – 7th Heaven
16) James Cameron – Titanic
15) David Lean – The Bridge on the River Kwai
14) David Lean – Lawrence of Arabia
13) Jonathan Demme – The Silence of the Lambs
12) Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another
11) John Ford – The Informer
10) George Stevens – A Place in the Sun
9) Steven Spielberg – Schindler’s List
8) Woody Allen – Annie Hall
7) Frank Capra – It Happened One Night
6) Bong Joon-ho – Parasite
5) Bob Fosse – Cabaret
4) Michael Curtiz – Casablanca
3) John Ford – The Grapes of Wrath
2) Lewis Milestone – All Quiet on the Western Front
1) William Wyler – The Best Years of Our Lives
Tricky is an excellent way to put this one, frankly.