25 legendary filmmakers who never won the Best Director Oscar

Welles didn’t win for “Citizen Kane.” Instead, it went to John Ford for “How Green Was My Valley.” That was a truly puzzling decision, but perhaps voters thought Welles had plenty more chances in front of him. Alas, Welles’ career was tumultuous, and the virtuoso never ended up winning a Best Director after all.

Welles not having a Best Director Oscar is odd, but Hitchcock's lack of one may be even stranger. That’s about a mix of quality and quantity. Hitch made several more films than Welles ever did, including “Vertigo,” which some call the best movie ever made. That didn’t win Hitchcock a Best Director, and neither did “Rear Window” or any of his other films.

Lumet was nominated for four Best Director Oscars, spanning quite a bit of time. In 1957, he received a nod for “12 Angry Men,” and in 1982, he received a nomination for “The Verdict.” In between, he made “Dog Day Afternoon” and a little film called “Network” that won a ton of Oscars. None of them went to Lumet, though, and the director passed away in 2011.

Perhaps because he directs his films in a foreign language — Almodovar is from Spain — his Oscar chances have been limited. Or maybe not, because he does have two Oscars, one for Best Foreign Language Film, and one, somewhat surprisingly, for Best Original Screenplay. However, neither of those is for Best Director, and he doesn’t have one yet.

Like Welles, Anderson was a wunderkind thanks to his movie “Boogie Nights.” He also made the masterpiece “There Will Be Blood,” which Daniel Day-Lewis won an Oscar for. It seems like every Anderson movie - even the polarizing "Licorice Pizza" - gets some love from the Academy, so there is still hope for him. In fact, "One Battle After Another" is the 2025 favorite.

There was much consternation when Lee didn’t even get a Best Director nomination for “Do the Right Thing,” and rightfully so, given the lack of racial diversity throughout the history of the category. It doesn’t help that, to this day, “Do the Right Thing” is probably the best film Lee has made. If that movie couldn’t get him an Oscar, what will? Not "BlacKkKlansman" either, which won for Best Adapted Screenplay at the last Academy Awards, but again, he didn't get the nod for the Best Director category. When "Da 5 Bloods" basically got overlooked, it did not bode well.

We’ve got two (unrelated) Andersons on this list. Wes is a bit of an acquired taste. Some make fun of his fustiness and candy-colored films. Others love him, though, and the Oscars seem to be a fan of his work as well. He has only one Best Director nomination, for “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” but five of his films have gotten one Oscar nomination or another.

If history were rewritten, Fincher might already have a Best Director statue. He was nominated for “The Social Network,” a prescient, much-loved film, but he lost to Tom Hooper, who won for the traditional prestige of “The King’s Speech.” "Mank" seemed like it had Oscar hopes, but ultimately it fell from favor, and "Nomadland" became the award darling, and that extended to director Chloe Zhao. Fincher's arguably two most accessible films have not won. Will he give it a shot again?

Some thought Tarantino might win Best Director for "Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood," even if it might have been seen as a lifetime achievement award. You know, like how Martin Scorsese finally won for "The Departed." Unfortunately for Quentin, it didn't happen, but his movie did finally get Brad Pitt an Oscar. Tarantino has said he will retire after one more film. The clock may be ticking.

Sofia’s dad, Francis Ford Coppola, has an Oscar, and maybe Sofia will follow in his footsteps. In fact, she was already nominated once, for “Lost in Translation,” when she became only the third-ever woman to be up for that award. Since then, though Coppola has struggled to live up to that hype, and her best chance of winning may have already passed.

Kubrick’s filmography is almost unimpeachable. Maybe “The Shining” was never going to win since it’s a horror film, and “Dr. Strangelove” is a comedy so that may have been tricky to convince people of anyway. That being said, the Academy couldn’t have given Kubrick an award for “2001: A Space Odyssey”?

DuVernay hasn’t been nominated yet, but that’s unfortunately not a surprise. As a black woman, she represents two groups of people who have been largely overlooked by the Academy in the past. In fact, when “Selma” was nominated for Best Picture, it was the first time a movie directed by a black woman was up for that award. She’s been doing some documentary work recently, but a move back to scripted film could potentially get her a win.

Cold, contemplative Swedish films may not be box office boffo, but you would think that Bergman could have gotten some love from the Oscars for the likes of “Persona” and “The Seventh Seal.” The academy clearly loved him. He got a Lifetime Achievement award, and three of his movies won Best Foreign Language Film. Many people consider him one of the best filmmakers to ever live. And yet, zero Best Director Oscars.

Some of Lynch’s films were certainly too weird for the Oscars. “Eraserhead” was never going to get any love, for example. Then again, he was nominated for Best Director three times, including for the strange and dark “Blue Velvet.” Lynch ended his career focused on the world of "Twin Peaks," and the director passed away in 2025 at the age of 78.

Altman was an actor’s director. He would have sprawling casts and let them do their thing. On five separate occasions, Altman got a Best Director nomination, but none of them came to fruition. He did get an honorary Oscar but somehow not any hardware.

Fellini, like a lot of foreign directors, sort of seemed to fall into the pool of “Hey, we gave you Best Foreign Language Film! That should be enough, right?” Indeed, the Italian master won Best Foreign Language Film four times, a record. Not even “8½” could win him a Best Director Oscar, and like many people on this list, he had to settle for an honorary award.

Like so many early directors, Hawks was a prolific filmmaker who worked across a range of genres. That was what you had to do in early Hollywood. Weirdly, movies like “His Girl Friday” and “The Big Sleep” didn’t get him any nominations, as he only ended up getting a nod for Best Director once, for “Sergeant York.” So many winners of the award have cited Hawks as an influence, so he’ll have to settle for that.

Kramer liked to make the kind of social message movies you would think the Oscars would love to reward. Couldn’t you see Kramer winning for “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” or “Judgment at Nuremberg”? That never happened, though, and one time he was nominated and lost to “West Side Story."

Scott was nominated for back-to-back Best Director awards for “Gladiator” and “Black Hawk Down.” While the former won Best Picture, Scott was blanked. Then, when “The Martian” got a Best Picture nomination, Scott was not nominated. Hey, the man made “Alien” and “Blade Runner.” He’s a sci-fi legend forever.

Right now, Jenkins is awash in the world of comic book movies. That’s what happens when you make a movie like “Wonder Woman,” and she has been busy working on the sequel, which is (hopefully) coming out soon. After that, maybe she will return to critically acclaimed movies. After all, Charlize Theron won Best Actress for “Monster,” a movie Jenkins directed.

We have to shout out to Lupino as one of the very few women who directed movies during the era of the Hollywood studio system. She didn’t just direct “feminine” fare either. In fact, Lupino has multiple film noir movies to her name. Maybe the movies she directed weren’t always Oscar bait, but Lupino still deserves recognition for what she did at a time when few people like her were given any opportunity.

Penn helped change the face of Hollywood by dismantling the old studio system and ushering in a new era of independent filmmaking. We speak, of course, of his movie “Bonnie and Clyde.” That was not his first Best Director nomination, though. He previously had one for “The Miracle Worker,” though neither got him a win.

Leone was never even nominated for an Oscar, which is a surprise. In fact, he got only one BAFTA nomination and one Golden Globe nomination, both for “Once Upon a Time in America.” Let’s not forget the important impact he had on cinema, though. After all, this is the man who made the trilogy of “A Fistful of Dollars,” “For a Few Dollars More,” and, of course, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.”

Kurosawa was given a Lifetime Achievement Oscar in 1990, but "Parasite" winning Best Picture and Bong Joon-ho winning Best Director put us in mind of this legendary Asian director, who never got a chance to even be nominated for Best Director. The man gave us "Ran," "Rashomon," "Seven Samurai," and more staples of Asian cinema. A Best Director would have been fitting.

Weir is arguably underrated as a director. It's not just his four nominations for Best Director, but the fact that he's directed some commercial successes as well. The Australian was behind movies such as "Dead Poets Society," "Witness," and "The Truman Show." Alas, Weir last directed a movie in 2010, so it would seem he is retired.

Gerwig is three-for-three in terms of critical acclaim. "Lady Bird," "Little Women," and "Barbie" all delighted audiences, with "Barbie" becoming the biggest movie of 2023. However, to the surprise of some, "Barbie" did not earn Gerwig her second Best Director nomination. She's primed to start directing Chronicles of Narnia adaptations for Netflix, and her team has said she is done with smaller, personal films, having moved on to being a blockbuster director. It may be years, if ever, before Gerwig gets another nomination.