The 2007 Academy Awards Part 2: Best Director Hopefuls

Clint Eastwood for Flags of our Fathers: This is an absolute lock for a nomination and he might even be the favorite to win at this point. Eastwood won easily for Million Dollar Baby, a film that was mostly serious dramatics and minimal production values. Imagine once he gets to show off in a war movie with Spielberg looking over his shoulder.

Martin Scorsese for The Departed: The often-nominated (and often-robbed) Scorsese once again finds himself locked into a dead heat in the best director race with Clint Eastwood. The Departed stands a chance to make a good amount of money and is getting a ton of mainstream attention but the more serious, historical nature of Flags of Our Fathers will make it a more attractive movie to the Academy.

Michel Gondry for The Science of Sleep: This is admittedly a long shot but the Academy often has a tendency to nominate one really oddball candidate in the best director category every year. In recent years we've had such nominees as Spike Jonze for Being John Malkovich (a contemporary and hero of Gondry's), David Lynch for Mulholland Drive, and Fernando Meirelles for City of God. The Science of Sleep is a visually extravagant film with a very distinctive directorial stamp on it and while the film will probably be a little too bizarre to get attention in other categories it does have a shot at the director at least being recognized.

Bill Condon for Dreamgirls: Condon won a best original screenplay Oscar for Gods and Monsters in 1998 and was nominated for writing Chicago in 2003. He directed Gods and Monsters as well as Kinsey and a handful of other films but has never received a nomination. Condon has a strong theater background which should translate well to putting a big-budget musical onto the screen. He's a generally well-liked and respected guy in the industry. Dreamgirls stands to make a LOT of money and will be heavily marketed for awards so I would pencil Condon in for a nomination at this point.

Robert Deniro for the Good Shepherd: Academy favorite and (I think he's old enough now to be considered) Hollywood legend directs his second film, a deeply personal project that he's been trying to get made for a LONG time. His recent bout with cancer put the film on hold but he made a full recovery and got the film completed. It's a historical epic based on a real story with serious social themes. The feel good story behind the making of the film as well as Deniro's status in Hollywood makes him a strong contender for an Oscar nomination here.

Steven Soderbergh for the Good German: Soderbergh is a one-time winner in what had to be considered a BIG upset in this category. In the year 2000 he was nominated as best director for both Traffic and Erin Brockovich. Ridley Scott's Gladiator was the film to beat that year and was generally favored to win Best Picture and Director. Ang Lee had won the Director's Guild Award (a strong precursor to the Best Director Oscar) for Crouching Tiger Hidden that year and it was generally figured that Soderbergh would split votes and the Directing award would go to either Scott or Lee. To the surprise of everyone, Soderbergh won for Traffic. His achievements that year were two strong to be ignored and the one-two punch combination of successful films he had that year put him over the top. That doesn't have a ton to do with this year, but it's a nice success story and certainly makes him a favorable figure in the Academy's eyes. His new film the Good German boasts an Oscar-winning A-list cast (George Clooney and Cate Blanchett), an epic historical story and a great marketing campaign. Add him to the list of potentially hot director nominations this season.

Emilio Estevez for Bobby: I'll admit that "Academy Award nominee Emilio Estevez" doesn't exactly sound right but he unquestionably stands a chance at a nomination. Taking on a significant historical event with a massive cast and interlocking storylines there will be a lot of attention drawn to the filmmaking. His lack of success in recent years (he's been doing what exactly?) and inexperience behind the camera could hinder his chances but I think that Bobby is a very attractive film as far as the Academy is concerned and Estevez stands a good chance at a nomination.

Guillermo Del Toro for Pan's Labrynth: Has an outside shot in the similar vein of Michel Gondry. Del Toro's new film has been getting rave pre-release reviews and the production is supposedly spectacular. Apparently it's been drawing a strong emotional reaction from viewers is well so it could be a dark horse candidate for Best Picture as well although given the bias the Academy usually has against fantasy films it could hurt it. Still, given the production and the likely critical acclaim they might choose Del Toro to be the oddball nominee.

Stephen Frears for The Queen: Frears is a very good, very underappreciated director with a resume of almost no bad films (some of his credits include High Fidelity, The Grifters and Dangerous Liasons). His films are usually a little quirky and out there which is probably why he's never gotten an Oscar nod but tackling the story of Queen Elizabeth in the wake of Princess Diana's death gives him a high-profile, socially significant film. He's a strong prospect.

Other possibilities: William Friedkin for Bug, Alfonso Cuaron for Children of Men, Todd Field for Little Children, Sofia Coppola for Marie Antoinette, Alejandro González Iñárritu for Babel, Paul Greengrass for United 93.

Best Actor candidates are up next.....

-Adam Karabel