20 Celebrated Filmmakers Who Never Won A Best Directing Oscar

Federico Fellini (1920-1993)
Directing Nominations: “La Dolce Vita” (1960), “8 1/2” (1963), “Satyricon” (1969) and “Amarcord” (1973)
Other Oscar History: Fellini has won more Foreign Language Oscars than anyone else, for “La Strada,” “Nights Of Cabiria,” “8 1/2” and “Amarcord.” He also picked up screenwriting nominations for co-writing Rossellini’s “Rome, Open City” and “Paisa,” plus his own “La Strada,” “I Vitelloni,” “La Dolce Vita,” “8 1/2,” “Amarcord,” and “Fellini’s Casanova,” plus an honorary award in 1993, just before his death.
What Should They Have Won For? The rare foreign-language filmmaker who became an Academy darling, you could hardly say that Fellini got a raw deal from them, but it still sticks in the craw a bit that he was never rewarded as a director, given that he’s, you know, one of the best the medium ever saw. Your mileage may vary from film to film, but most would likely agree that “8 1/2” would be the most deserving film to recognize him with. It’s a semi-autobiographical masterpiece that’s also probably the greatest ever film about filmmaking, entirely beautiful, entertaining, inventive and, perhaps most importantly, couldn’t have been made by anyone else. That he was beaten by Tony Richardson for “Tom Jones” is, frankly, sort of baffling.

Sam Peckinpah (1925-1984)
Directing Nominations: None
Other Oscar History: Peckinpah was only nominated the once, for co-writing the screenplay to 1969’s “The Wild Bunch.” None of his other movies made much of an awards impact.
What Should They Have Won For? Given the blood-soaked nature of many of his films, and his super-macho outsider nature, that the Academy didn’t recognize Peckinpah isn’t a shocker. But it certainly would have shaken the place up. “The Wild Bunch” is probably the film that was most likely to crack the awards season, but we’re personally fonder of his early ’70s work, and given the initially repulsed reaction to “Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia,” that probably leaves “Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid.” In its uncut version at least (the film was released in a cut truncated by nearly twenty minutes), the film is probably Peckinpah’s masterpiece, quieter and stranger and richer and more beautiful than his other Westerns, or indeed his other films.

Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007)
Directing Nominations: “Cries and Whispers” (1972) and “Fanny and Alexander” (1982)
Other Oscar History: Three of Bergman’s films won Best Foreign Film: “The Virgin Spring” “Through a Glass Darkly” and “Fanny and Alexander,” which is a feat though not a record (Fellini directed four Foreign Film winners). Bergman was also nominated five times for screenplay, while “Cries and Whispers” additionally got a Best Picture nod, losing that year to “The Sting.” He also received the 1971 Irving G. Thalberg honorary Oscar, or at least Liv Ullmann did on his behalf; Bergman did not attend the ceremony.
What Should They Have Won For: Again, this is a tremendously difficult call as Bergman is without doubt one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, and has a filmography in which even minor entries for him, would be career highs for anyone else. Subjective as it is, and while Bergman himself is said to have regarded “Winter Light” and “Cries and Whispers” as his personal favorites, we’re going to go with “Fanny and Alexander” because it did get him a nomination, because it represents a kind of smorgasbord of everything that is quintessentially Bergman, but also because it is completely, adorably accessible without compromising an ounce of its profundity.

Jean-Luc Godard (1930-)
Directing Nominations: Zip. Zero. Nil. Nada.
Other Oscar History: Godard was awarded an Honorary Oscar in 2011. Unsurprisingly, he wasn’t at the ceremony, and despite AMPAS reps saying that he was appreciative, the director told an interviewer that the notion meant “nothing” to him, adding “Which of my films have they seen? Do they actually know my films?”
What Should They Have Won For? Unlike pal/rival Francois Truffaut (who was nominated three times, including a director nod for “Day For Night,” which also won Best Foreign Language Film), Godard was never welcomed into the bosom of the Academy. And it’s not wildly surprising, since the director never really gave a shit back in the day, let alone by the time he won an honorary prize. Plus there’s barely a decade of even vaguely accessible work before Godard’s output became more and more radical and political (though the early ’80s saw some more Academy-friendly fare, relatively speaking). But can you imagine the shockwave it would have caused had “Breathless” won Best Director in 1960? Admittedly, it would have meant Billy Wilder missing out for “The Apartment,” but the film arguably remains Godard’s finest hour, and pretty much changed cinema forever, so it would be a worthy substitute.

Otto Preminger 
Directing Nominations: “Laura” (1944) and “The Cardinal” (1963)
Other Oscar History: Despite a string of popular and critical hits, Preminger never really racked up that much AMPAS success—his sole other nomination came with a Best Picture nod for “Anatomy Of A Murder” in 1959.
What Should They Have Won For? “Skidoo,” of course! That’s a joke, clearly, but it’s sort of puzzling that someone like Preminger, whose films often feel like, on the surface, that they should be very Academy-friendly, got so little love. Wins for “Carmen Jones,” “Saint Joan,” “Porgy And Bess,” “Anatomy Of A Murder” and even “Advise & Consent,” none of which he was nominated for, would all have been deserved to various degrees, but ultimately it’s film-noir classic “Laura” that we’d have given him the prize for (or at least let it share with “Double Indemnity,” released the same year—both were beaten by the deeply puzzling choice of Leo McCarey for “Going My Way.“) “Laura” is suspenseful, stylish, beautifully crafted and something of a high watermark for the noir genre. No film would have been a better way to recognize Preminger’s impressive, if erratic, career.