BEST DIRECTOR
The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow
The Lovely Bones, Peter Jackson (above, with Saoirse Ronan)
A Serious Man, Joel and Ethan Coen
Up in the Air, Jason Reitman (above, with George Clooney)
The White Ribbon, Michael Haneke
In all honesty, I don't know who the hell will get a best direction nod this year — though I'm pretty sure it'll be five of the ten directors listed in my "tentative" 2010 best picture Oscar list.
For the record, the other five not listed above are: Lone Scherfig for An Education; Grant Heslov for The Men Who Stare at Goats; Lee Daniels for Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire; Steven Soderbergh for The Informant!, and Rob Marshall for Nine.
Unless, of course, Jane Campion manages to get a nod for Bright Star. If both Campion and Kathryn Bigelow get in, that'll be a first: two female directors nominated for the best direction Oscar.
Other possibilities — though I'd say less likely considering the aforementioned competition — are Clint Eastwood for Invictus, Spike Jonze for Where the Wild Things Are, Mira Nair for Amelia, and James Cameron for Avatar.
I should add that I've opted to include Michael Haneke in the above shortlist because the Academy's relatively small directors' branch has been more adventurous in the past than nearly every other Academy branch, e.g. — in the last 15 years — Krzysztof Kieslowski for Red, Mike Figgis for Leaving Las Vegas, Atom Egoyan for The Sweet Hereafter, David Lynch for Mulholland Dr., Pedro Almodóvar for Talk to Her, Fernando Meirelles for City of God, Mike Leigh for Vera Drake, and Julian Schnabel for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
Best Picture : The Lovely Bones
Best Director : Rob Marshall,NINE
Best Actor : Daniel Day Lewis, NINE
Best Actress : Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
If Jane Campion and Lone Scherfig get nominated we'll have three women along with Kathryn Bigelow. Now, THAT will be an Oscar first.
Best actor: Clive Owen
Best Director: Scott Hicks
Best score: Hal Lindes
Best picture: "The Boys Are Back"
Whenever I think of the Academy's music branch I think of Alan Menken, Walt Disney, mermaids, and singing teapots.
Actually, I would think the music, specifically the song branch, the ones who've been more adventurous.
Eminem, anyone?