Best Director at the Oscars has always been a subject of fascination, because of how it relates to Best Picture. In the 2000s, there were multiple instances of Best Picture and Best Director lining up exactly, but a few years featured splits. Directors that won with Best Picture-winning movies included Ron Howard, Peter Jackson, Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, Joel and Ethan Coen, Danny Boyle and Kathryn Bigelow. The split years that decade were Steven Soderbergh winning for “Traffic,” Roman Polanski for “The Pianist” and Ang Lee for “Brokeback Mountain.”
All these years later, which do you consider your favorite Best Director Oscar winner of the 2000s? Take a look back and then vote in our poll below.
Steven Soderbergh, “Traffic” (2000) — “Gladiator” may have won Best Picture, but Steven Soderbergh won Best Director for “Traffic,” with the Academy impressed by his ability to juggle multiple intersecting storylines. Making his win more impressive, Soderbergh actually beat himself, having been nominated for “Erin Brockovich” as well.
Ron Howard, “A Beautiful Mind” (2001) — Ron Howard won alongside his winning film “A Beautiful Mind,” on which he was also a producer, beating heavyweight contenders like Robert Altman, Peter Jackson, David Lynch and Ridley Scott. Howard was later nominated for directing and producing “Frost/Nixon” (2008).
Roman Polanski, “The Pianist” (2002) — While “Chicago” won Best Picture, it was Roman Polanski for his WWII epic “The Pianist” that won in Best Director. Polanski earned previous directing nominations for “Chinatown” (1974) and “Tess” (1980), with an Adapted Screenplay nomination for “Rosemary’s Baby.” (1968).
Peter Jackson, “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003) — Peter Jackson not only won Best Director for the final “Lord of the Rings” installment but Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture (as a producer) as well. He was nominated for Best Director for the first film in 2001, with other nominations including Best Original Screenplay for “Heavenly Creatures” (1994), Best Picture for “District 9” (2009), Best Picture for all three “Lord of the Rings” films, and a writing nomination for the first film.
Clint Eastwood, “Million Dollar Baby” (2004) — Clint Eastwood added two more Oscars to his collection with “Million Dollar Baby,” winning both Picture and Director. He previously collected these two prizes for “Unforgiven” (1992), and earned the same nominations for “Mystic River” (2003) and “Letters from Iwo Jima” (2006), plus a Best Picture nomination for “American Sniper” (2014).
Ang Lee, “Brokeback Mountain” (2005) — Ang Lee was part of the final split year of the 2000s, winning for his elegant work on “Brokeback Mountain” while “Crash” won Best Picture. Lee was nominated for Best Picture and Director for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000) and the same for “Life of Pi” (2012), winning his second Best Director prize for the latter.
Martin Scorsese, “The Departed” (2006) — Martin Scorsese finally won his overdue Oscar for “The Departed” after five losses in the category. He previously lost for “Raging Bull” (1980), “The Last Temptation of Christ” (1988), “Goodfellas” (1990), “Gangs of New York” (2002) and “The Aviator” (2004), with later nominations for “Hugo” (2012) and “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2013). His other Academy nominations include Adapted Screenplay for “Goodfellas” and “The Age of Innocence” (1993) and Best Picture for “Hugo” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
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Joel and Ethan Coen, “No Country for Old Men” (2007) —Joel and Ethan Coen previously won an Oscar for writing “Fargo” (1996) but they earned the trifecta of Best Director, Adapted Screenplay and Picture for “No Country for Old Men.” Together they have been nominated 11 times, including for “O Brother Where Art Thou?” (2000), “A Serious Man” (2009), “True Grit” (2010) and “Bridge of Spies” (2015), with additional nominations under their pseudonym Roderick Jaynes in Best Film Editing.
Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire” (2008) — Danny Boyle won Best Director for his frenetic work on “Slumdog Millionaire,” as part of the film’s big sweep at the Oscars. He would later earn nominations for “127 Hours” (2010) in Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay.
Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker” (2009) — Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman in history to win Best Director at the Oscars, with “The Hurt Locker” also becoming the first movie helmed by a woman to win Best Picture. As a producer, she earned two trophies that night, and earned an additional nomination in Best Picture for “Zero Dark Thirty” (2012).
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