Best Director

The following is the average ranking of Best Director Oscar nominees by the Twitter followers of And the Runner-Up Is.

Results are tallied using a positional voting system, where the nominees receive points based on their rank position on each submission and the nominee with the most points overall wins.

Bold = the actual Academy Award winner

1920s

Year	Nominee and rank	Film
1927–28	1. King Vidor	The Crowd
	2. Frank Borzage	*7th Heaven*
	3. Ted Wilde	Speedy
	4. Lewis Milestone	*Two Arabian Knights*
	5. Herbert Brenon	Sorrell and Son
1928–29	1. Frank Lloyd	*The Divine Lady*
	2. Irving Cummings	In Old Arizona
	3. Harry Beaumont	The Broadway Melody
	4. Lionel Barrymore	Madame X
	5. Frank Lloyd	Weary River
	6. Frank Lloyd	Drag
	-Ernst Lubitsch	The Patriot

1930s

Year	Nominee and rank	Film
1929–30	1. Lewis Milestone	*All Quiet on the Western Front*
	2. Clarence Brown	Anna Christie
	3. Robert Z. Leonard	The Divorcee
	4. Ernst Lubitsch	The Love Parade
	5. King Vidor	Hallelujah
	6. Clarence Brown	Romance
1930–31	1. Josef von Sternberg	Morocco
	2. Lewis Milestone	The Front Page
	3. Norman Taurog	*Skippy*
	4. Clarence Brown	A Free Soul
	5. Wesley Ruggles	Cimarron
1931–32	1. Josef von Sternberg	Shanghai Express
	2. King Vidor	The Champ
	3. Frank Borzage	*Bad Girl*
1932–33	1. Frank Capra	Lady for a Day
	2. George Cukor	Little Women
	3. Frank Lloyd	*Cavalcade*
1934	1. Frank Capra	*It Happened One Night*
	2. W.S. Van Dyke	The Thin Man
	3. Victor Schertzinger	One Night of Love
1935	1. John Ford	*The Informer*
	2. Frank Lloyd	Mutiny on the Bounty
	3. Michael Curtiz	Captain Blood
	4. Henry Hathaway	The Lives of a Bengal Lancer
1936	1. Gregory La Cava	My Man Godfrey
	2. William Wyler	Dodsworth
	3. Frank Capra	*Mr. Deeds Goes to Town*
	4. Robert Z. Leonard	The Great Ziegfeld
	5. W.S. Van Dyke	San Francisco
1937	1. Leo McCarey	*The Awful Truth*
	2. William A. Wellman	A Star Is Born
	3. Gregory La Cava	Stage Door
	4. William Dieterle	The Life of Emile Zola
	5. Sidney Franklin	The Good Earth
1938	1. Michael Curtiz	Angels with Dirty Faces
	2. Frank Capra	*You Can't Take It with You*
	3. King Vidor	The Citadel
	4. Michael Curtiz	Four Daughters
	5. Norman Taurog	Boys Town
1939	1. Victor Fleming	*Gone with the Wind*
	2. Frank Capra	Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
	3. John Ford	Stagecoach
	4. William Wyler	Wuthering Heights
	5. Sam Wood	Goodbye, Mr. Chips

1940s

Year	Nominee and rank	Film
1940	1. John Ford	*The Grapes of Wrath*
	2. Alfred Hitchcock	Rebecca
	3. George Cukor	The Philadelphia Story
	4. William Wyler	The Letter
	5. Sam Wood	Kitty Foyle
1941	1. Orson Welles	Citizen Kane
	2. John Ford	*How Green Was My Valley*
	3. William Wyler	The Little Foxes
	4. Howard Hawks	Sergeant York
	5. Alexander Hall	Here Comes Mr. Jordan
1942	1. William Wyler	*Mrs. Miniver*
	2. Mervyn LeRoy	Random Harvest
	3. Michael Curtiz	Yankee Doodle Dandy
	4. Sam Wood	Kings Row
	5. John Farrow	Wake Island
1943	1. Michael Curtiz	*Casablanca*
	2. George Stevens	The More the Merrier
	3. Ernst Lubitsch	Heaven Can Wait
	4. Henry King	The Song of Bernadette
	5. Clarence Brown	The Human Comedy
1944	1. Billy Wilder	Double Indemnity
	2. Otto Preminger	Laura
	3. Alfred Hitchcock	Lifeboat
	4. Leo McCarey	*Going My Way*
	5. Henry King	Wilson
1945	1. Billy Wilder	*The Lost Weekend*
	2. Alfred Hitchcock	Spellbound
	3. Jean Renoir	The Southerner
	4. Clarence Brown	National Velvet
	5. Leo McCarey	The Bells of St. Mary's
1946	1. William Wyler	*The Best Years of Our Lives*
	2. David Lean	Brief Encounter
	3. Frank Capra	It's a Wonderful Life
	4. Robert Siodmak	The Killers
	5. Clarence Brown	The Yearling
1947	1. David Lean	Great Expectations
	2. Edward Dmytryk	Crossfire
	3. Elia Kazan	*Gentleman’s Agreement*
	4. George Cukor	A Double Life
	5. Henry Koster	The Bishop's Wife
1948	1. John Huston	*The Treasure of the Sierra Madre*
	2. Fred Zinnemann	The Search
	3. Laurence Olivier	Hamlet
	4. Anatole Litvak	The Snake Pit
	5. Jean Negulesco	Johnny Belinda
1949	1. William Wyler	The Heiress
	2. Carol Reed	The Fallen Idol
	3. Joseph L. Mankiewicz	*A Letter to Three Wives*
	4. Robert Rossen	All the King's Men
	5. William A. Wellman	Battleground

1950s

Year	Nominee and rank	Film
1950	1. Billy Wilder	Sunset Boulevard
	2. Joseph L. Mankiewicz	*All About Eve*
	3. Carol Reed	The Third Man
	4. John Huston	The Asphalt Jungle
	5. George Cukor	Born Yesterday
1951	1. Elia Kazan	A Streetcar Named Desire
	2. George Stevens	*A Place in the Sun*
	3. John Huston	The African Queen
	4. Vincente Minnelli	An American in Paris
	5. William Wyler	Detective Story
1952	1. Fred Zinnemann	High Noon
	2. John Ford	*The Quiet Man*
	3. John Huston	Moulin Rouge
	4. Joseph L. Mankiewicz	Five Fingers
	5. Cecil B. DeMille	The Greatest Show on Earth
1953	1. Fred Zinnemann	*From Here to Eternity*
	2. George Stevens	Shane
	3. William Wyler	Roman Holiday
	4. Billy Wilder	Stalag 17
	5. Charles Walters	Lili
1954	1. Elia Kazan	*On the Waterfront*
	2. Alfred Hitchcock	Rear Window
	3. Billy Wilder	Sabrina
	4. William A. Wellman	The High and the Mighty
	5. George Seaton	The Country Girl
1955	1. Elia Kazan	East of Eden
	2. Delbert Mann	*Marty*
	3. David Lean	Summertime
	4. John Sturges	Bad Day at Black Rock
	5. Joshua Logan	Picnic
1956	1. George Stevens	*Giant*
	2. Walter Lang	The King and I
	3. William Wyler	Friendly Persuasion
	4. King Vidor	War and Peace
	5. Michael Anderson	Around the World in 80 Days
1957	1. Sidney Lumet	12 Angry Men
	2. David Lean	*The Bridge on the River Kwai*
	3. Billy Wilder	Witness for the Prosecution
	4. Mark Robson	Peyton Place
	5. Joshua Logan	Sayonara
1958	1. Richard Brooks	Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
	2. Stanley Kramer	The Defiant Ones
	3. Robert Wise	I Want to Live!
	4. Vincente Minnelli	*Gigi*
	5. Mark Robson	The Inn of the Sixth Happiness
1959	1. Billy Wilder	Some Like It Hot
	2. William Wyler	*Ben-Hur*
	3. Jack Clayton	Room at the Top
	4. George Stevens	The Diary of Anne Frank
	5. Fred Zinnemann	The Nun's Story

1960s

Year	Nominee and rank	Film
1960	1. Alfred Hitchcock	Psycho
	2. Billy Wilder	*The Apartment*
	3. Jack Cardiff	Sons and Lovers
	4. Jules Dassin	Never on Sunday
	5. Fred Zinnemann	The Sundowners
1961	1. Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins	*West Side Story*
	2. Federico Fellini	La Dolce Vita
	3. Robert Rossen	The Hustler
	4. Stanley Kramer	Judgment at Nuremberg
	5. J. Lee Thompson	The Guns of Navarone
1962	1. David Lean	*Lawrence of Arabia*
	2. Robert Mulligan	To Kill a Mockingbird
	3. Arthur Penn	The Miracle Worker
	4. Pietro Germi	Divorce Italian Style
	5. Frank Perry	David and Lisa
1963	1. Federico Fellini	8½
	2. Martin Ritt	Hud
	3. Elia Kazan	America America
	4. Otto Preminger	The Cardinal
	5. Tony Richardson	*Tom Jones*
1964	1. Stanley Kubrick	Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
	2. Robert Stevenson	Mary Poppins
	3. George Cukor	*My Fair Lady*
	4. Peter Glenville	Becket
	5. Michael Cacoyannis	Zorba the Greek
1965	1. Robert Wise	*The Sound of Music*
	2. Hiroshi Teshigahara	Woman in the Dunes
	3. David Lean	Doctor Zhivago
	4. William Wyler	The Collector
	5. John Schlesinger	Darling
1966	1. Mike Nichols	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
	2. Michelangelo Antonioni	Blow-Up
	3. Fred Zinnemann	*A Man for All Seasons*
	4. Richard Brooks	The Professionals
	5. Claude Lelouch	A Man and a Woman
1967	1. Mike Nichols	*The Graduate*
	2. Arthur Penn	Bonnie and Clyde
	3. Richard Brooks	In Cold Blood
	4. Norman Jewison	In the Heat of the Night
	5. Stanley Kramer	Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
1968	1. Stanley Kubrick	2001: A Space Odyssey
	2. Gillo Pontecorvo	The Battle of Algiers
	3. Anthony Harvey	The Lion in Winter
	4. Franco Zeffirelli	Romeo and Juliet
	5. Carol Reed	*Oliver!*
1969	1. John Schlesinger	*Midnight Cowboy*
	2. Sydney Pollack	They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
	3. Costa-Gavras	Z
	4. George Roy Hill	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
	5. Arthur Penn	Alice's Restaurant

1970s

Year	Nominee and rank	Film
1970	1. Robert Altman	MASH*
	2. Ken Russell	Women in Love
	3. Franklin J. Schaffner	*Patton*
	4. Federico Fellini	Fellini Satyricon
	5. Arthur Hiller	Love Story
1971	1. Peter Bogdanovich	The Last Picture Show
	2. Stanley Kubrick	A Clockwork Orange
	3. William Friedkin	*The French Connection*
	4. John Schlesinger	Sunday Bloody Sunday
	5. Norman Jewison	Fiddler on the Roof
1972	1. Francis Ford Coppola	The Godfather
	2. Bob Fosse	*Cabaret*
	3. John Boorman	Deliverance
	4. Jan Troell	The Emigrants
	5. Joseph L. Mankiewicz	Sleuth
1973	1. William Friedkin	The Exorcist
	2. Ingmar Bergman	Cries and Whispers
	3. George Lucas	American Graffiti
	4. Bernardo Bertolucci	Last Tango in Paris
	5. George Roy Hill	*The Sting*
1974	1. Francis Ford Coppola	*The Godfather Part II*
	2. Roman Polanski	Chinatown
	3. John Cassavetes	A Woman Under the Influence
	4. François Truffaut	Day for Night
	5. Bob Fosse	Lenny
1975	1. Robert Altman	Nashville
	2. Sidney Lumet	Dog Day Afternoon
	3. Stanley Kubrick	Barry Lyndon
	4. Miloš Forman	*One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest*
	5. Federico Fellini	Amarcord
1976	1. Sidney Lumet	Network
	2. Alan J. Pakula	All the President's Men
	3. Lina Wertmüller	Seven Beauties
	4. John G. Avildsen	*Rocky*
	5. Ingmar Bergman	Face to Face
1977	1. Woody Allen	*Annie Hall*
	2. Steven Spielberg	Close Encounters of the Third Kind
	3. George Lucas	Star Wars
	4. Fred Zinnemann	Julia
	5. Herbert Ross	The Turning Point
1978	1. Michael Cimino	*The Deer Hunter*
	2. Hal Ashby	Coming Home
	3. Woody Allen	Interiors
	4. Alan Parker	Midnight Express
	5. Warren Beatty & Buck Henry	Heaven Can Wait
1979	1. Francis Ford Coppola	Apocalypse Now
	2. Bob Fosse	All That Jazz
	3. Robert Benton	*Kramer vs. Kramer*
	4. Peter Yates	Breaking Away
	5. Édouard Molinaro	La Cage aux Folles

1980s

Year	Nominee and rank	Film
1980	1. Martin Scorsese	Raging Bull
	2. Robert Redford	*Ordinary People*
	3. David Lynch	The Elephant Man
	4. Roman Polanski	Tess
	5. Richard Rush	The Stunt Man
1981	1. Steven Spielberg	Raiders of the Lost Ark
	2. Warren Beatty	*Reds*
	3. Louis Malle	Atlantic City
	4. Mark Rydell	On Golden Pond
	5. Hugh Hudson	Chariots of Fire
1982	1. Steven Spielberg	E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
	2. Sydney Pollack	Tootsie
	3. Wolfgang Petersen	Das Boot
	4. Sidney Lumet	The Verdict
	5. Richard Attenborough	*Gandhi*
1983	1. James L. Brooks	*Terms of Endearment*
	2. Ingmar Bergman	Fanny and Alexander
	3. Mike Nichols	Silkwood
	4. Peter Yates	The Dresser
	5. Bruce Beresford	Tender Mercies
1984	1. Miloš Forman	*Amadeus*
	2. Roland Joffé	The Killing Fields
	3. David Lean	A Passage to India
	4. Woody Allen	Broadway Danny Rose
	5. Robert Benton	Places in the Heart
1985	1. Akira Kurosawa	Ran
	2. Peter Weir	Witness
	3. John Huston	Prizzi's Honor
	4. Hector Babenco	Kiss of the Spider Woman
	5. Sydney Pollack	*Out of Africa*
1986	1. David Lynch	Blue Velvet
	2. Woody Allen	Hannah and Her Sisters
	3. Oliver Stone	*Platoon*
	4. James Ivory	A Room with a View
	5. Roland Joffé	The Mission
1987	1. Bernardo Bertolucci	*The Last Emperor*
	2. Norman Jewison	Moonstruck
	3. Adrian Lyne	Fatal Attraction
	4. John Boorman	Hope and Glory
	5. Lasse Hallström	My Life as a Dog
1988	1. Martin Scorsese	The Last Temptation of Christ
	2. Charles Crichton	A Fish Called Wanda
	3. Mike Nichols	Working Girl
	4. Alan Parker	Mississippi Burning
	5. Barry Levinson	*Rain Man*
1989	1. Oliver Stone	*Born on the Fourth of July*
	2. Woody Allen	Crimes and Misdemeanors
	3. Peter Weir	Dead Poets Society
	4. Kenneth Branagh	Henry V
	5. Jim Sheridan	My Left Foot

1990s

Year	Nominee and rank	Film
1990	1. Martin Scorsese	GoodFellas
	2. Stephen Frears	The Grifters
	3. Kevin Costner	*Dances with Wolves*
	4. Francis Ford Coppola	The Godfather Part III
	5. Barbet Schroeder	Reversal of Fortune
1991	1. Jonathan Demme	*The Silence of the Lambs*
	2. Oliver Stone	JFK
	3. John Singleton	Boyz n the Hood
	4. Ridley Scott	Thelma & Louise
	5. Barry Levinson	Bugsy
1992	1. Clint Eastwood	*Unforgiven*
	2. Robert Altman	The Player
	3. Neil Jordan	The Crying Game
	4. James Ivory	Howards End
	5. Martin Brest	Scent of a Woman
1993	1. Steven Spielberg	*Schindler's List*
	2. Jane Campion	The Piano
	3. Robert Altman	Short Cuts
	4. James Ivory	The Remains of the Day
	5. Jim Sheridan	In the Name of the Father
1994	1. Quentin Tarantino	Pulp Fiction
	2. Krzysztof Kieślowski	Three Colours: Red
	3. Robert Zemeckis	*Forrest Gump*
	4. Robert Redford	Quiz Show
	5. Woody Allen	Bullets over Broadway
1995	1. Chris Noonan	Babe
	2. Tim Robbins	Dead Man Walking
	3. Mike Figgis	Leaving Las Vegas
	4. Mel Gibson	*Braveheart*
	5. Michael Radford	The Postman (Il Postino)
1996	1. Joel Coen	Fargo
	2. Mike Leigh	Secrets & Lies
	3. Anthony Minghella	*The English Patient*
	4. Miloš Forman	The People vs. Larry Flynt
	5. Scott Hicks	Shine
1997	1. Curtis Hanson	L.A. Confidential
	2. James Cameron	*Titanic*
	3. Gus Van Sant	Good Will Hunting
	4. Atom Egoyan	The Sweet Hereafter
	5. Peter Cattaneo	The Full Monty
1998	1. Steven Spielberg	*Saving Private Ryan*
	2. Peter Weir	The Truman Show
	3. Terrence Malick	The Thin Red Line
	4. John Madden	Shakespeare in Love
	5. Roberto Benigni	Life Is Beautiful
1999	1. Sam Mendes	*American Beauty*
	2. Spike Jonze	Being John Malkovich
	3. M. Night Shyamalan	The Sixth Sense
	4. Michael Mann	The Insider
	5. Lasse Hallström	The Cider House Rules

2000s

Year	Nominee and rank	Film
2000	1. Ang Lee	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
	2. Steven Soderbergh	*Traffic*
	3. Ridley Scott	Gladiator
	4. Stephen Daldry	Billy Elliot
	5. Steven Soderbergh	Erin Brockovich
2001	1. David Lynch	Mulholland Drive
	2. Peter Jackson	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
	3. Robert Altman	Gosford Park
	4. Ridley Scott	Black Hawk Down
	5. Ron Howard	*A Beautiful Mind*
2002	1. Pedro Almodóvar	Talk to Her
	2. Roman Polanski	*The Pianist*
	3. Rob Marshall	Chicago
	4. Martin Scorsese	Gangs of New York
	5. Stephen Daldry	The Hours
2003	1. Peter Jackson	*The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King*
	2. Sofia Coppola	Lost in Translation
	3. Fernando Meirelles	City of God
	4. Clint Eastwood	Mystic River
	5. Peter Weir	Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
2004	1. Martin Scorsese	The Aviator
	2. Alexander Payne	Sideways
	3. Clint Eastwood	*Million Dollar Baby*
	4. Mike Leigh	Vera Drake
	5. Taylor Hackford	Ray
2005	1. Ang Lee	*Brokeback Mountain*
	2. Steven Spielberg	Munich
	3. George Clooney	Good Night, and Good Luck
	4. Bennett Miller	Capote
	5. Paul Haggis	Crash
2006	1. Martin Scorsese	*The Departed*
	2. Paul Greengrass	United 93
	3. Clint Eastwood	Letters from Iwo Jima
	4. Alejandro G. Iñárritu	Babel
	5. Stephen Frears	The Queen
2007	1. Paul Thomas Anderson	There Will Be Blood
	2. Joel Coen & Ethan Coen	*No Country for Old Men*
	3. Julian Schnabel	The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
	4. Tony Gilroy	Michael Clayton
	5. Jason Reitman	Juno
2008	1. Danny Boyle	*Slumdog Millionaire*
	2. David Fincher	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
	3. Gus Van Sant	Milk
	4. Ron Howard	Frost/Nixon
	5. Stephen Daldry	The Reader
2009	1. Kathryn Bigelow	*The Hurt Locker*
	2. Quentin Tarantino	Inglourious Basterds
	3. James Cameron	Avatar
	4. Jason Reitman	Up in the Air
	5. Lee Daniels	Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

2010s

Year	Nominee and rank	Film
2010	1. David Fincher	The Social Network
	2. Darren Aronofsky	Black Swan
	3. Joel & Ethan Coen	True Grit
	4. David O. Russell	The Fighter
	5. Tom Hooper	*The King's Speech*
2011	1. Terrence Malick	The Tree of Life
	2. Martin Scorsese	Hugo
	3. Michel Hazanavicius	*The Artist*
	4. Woody Allen	Midnight in Paris
	5. Alexander Payne	The Descendants
2012	1. Ang Lee	*Life of Pi*
	2. Michael Haneke	Amour
	3. Steven Spielberg	Lincoln
	4. Benh Zeitlin	Beasts of the Southern Wild
	5. David O. Russell	Silver Linings Playbook
2013	1. Alfonso Cuarón	*Gravity*
	2. Steve McQueen	12 Years a Slave
	3. Martin Scorsese	The Wolf of Wall Street
	4. Alexander Payne	Nebraska
	5. David O. Russell	American Hustle
2014	1. Richard Linklater	Boyhood
	2. Wes Anderson	The Grand Budapest Hotel
	3. Alejandro G. Iñárritu	*Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)*
	4. Bennett Miller	Foxcatcher
	5. Morten Tyldum	The Imitation Game
2015	1. George Miller	Mad Max: Fury Road
	2. Alejandro G. Iñárritu	*The Revenant*
	3. Lenny Abrahamson	Room
	4. Tom McCarthy	Spotlight
	5. Adam McKay	The Big Short
2016	1. Barry Jenkins	Moonlight
	2. Damien Chazelle	*La La Land*
	3. Denis Villeneuve	Arrival
	4. Kenneth Lonergan	Manchester by the Sea
	5. Mel Gibson	Hacksaw Ridge
2017	1. Paul Thomas Anderson	Phantom Thread
	2. Christopher Nolan	Dunkirk
	3. Guillermo del Toro	*The Shape of Water*
	4. Jordan Peele	Get Out
	5. Greta Gerwig	Lady Bird
2018	1. Alfonso Cuarón	*Roma*
	2. Yorgos Lanthimos	The Favourite
	3. Spike Lee	BlacKkKlansman
	4. Paweł Pawlikowski	Cold War
	5. Adam McKay	Vice
2019	1. Bong Joon-ho	*Parasite*
	2. Sam Mendes	1917
	3. Martin Scorsese	The Irishman
	4. Quentin Tarantino	Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
	5. Todd Phillips	Joker

2020s

Year	Nominee and rank	Film
2020	1. Chloé Zhao	*Nomadland*
	2. Lee Isaac Chung	Minari
	3. Emerald Fennell	Promising Young Woman
	4. Thomas Vinterberg	Another Round
	5. David Fincher	Mank
2021	1. Jane Campion	*The Power of the Dog*
	2. Steven Spielberg	West Side Story
	3. Ryusuke Hamaguchi	Drive My Car
	4. Paul Thomas Anderson	Licorice Pizza
	5. Kenneth Branagh	Belfast
2022	1. Todd Field	TÁR
	2. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert	*Everything Everywhere All at Once*
	3. Steven Spielberg	The Fabelmans
	4. Martin McDonagh	The Banshees of Inisherin
	5. Ruben Östlund	Triangle of Sadness
2023	1. Christopher Nolan	*Oppenheimer*
	2. Jonathan Glazer	The Zone of Interest
	3. Martin Scorsese	Killers of the Flower Moon
	4. Justine Triet	Anatomy of a Fall
	5. Yorgos Lanthimos	Poor Things

Multiple winners

Martin Scorsese – 5 (Raging Bull; The Last Temptation of Christ; GoodFellas; The Aviator; The Departed)
Steven Spielberg – 4 (Raiders of the Lost Ark; E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial; Schindler’s List; Saving Private Ryan)
Billy Wilder – 4 (Double Indemnity: The Lost Weekend; Sunset Boulevard; Some Like It Hot)
Francis Ford Coppola – 3 (The Godfather; The Godfather Part II; Apocalypse Now)
Elia Kazan – 3 (A Streetcar Named Desire; On the Waterfront; East of Eden)
Ang Lee – 3 (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Brokeback Mountain; Life of Pi)
William Wyler – 3 (Mrs. Miniver; The Best Years of Our Lives; The Heiress)
Robert Altman – 2 (M*A*S*H; Nashville)
Paul Thomas Anderson – 2 (There Will Be Blood; Phantom Thread)
Frank Capra – 2 (Lady for a Day; It Happened One Night)
Alfonso Cuarón – 2 (Gravity; Roma)
Michael Curtiz – 2 (Angels with Dirty Faces; Casablanca)
John Ford – 2 (The Informer; The Grapes of Wrath)
Stanley Kubrick – 2 (Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb; 2001: A Space Odyssey)
David Lean – 2 (Great Expectations; Lawrence of Arabia)
Sidney Lumet – 2 (12 Angry Men; Network)
David Lynch – 2 (Blue Velvet; Mulholland Drive)
Mike Nichols – 2 (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; The Graduate)
Josef von Sternberg – 2 (Morocco; Shanghai Express)
Robert Wise – 2 (West Side Story; The Sound of Music)
Fred Zinnemann – 2 (High Noon; From Here to Eternity)

Most nominations without a win

Clarence Brown – 6 (Anna Christie; Romance; A Free Soul; The Human Comedy; National Velvet; The Yearling)
George Cukor – 5 (Little Women; The Philadelphia Story; A Double Life; Born Yesterday; My Fair Lady)
Joseph L. Mankiewicz – 4 (A Letter to Three Wives; All About Eve; Five Fingers; Sleuth)
Peter Weir – 4 (Witness; Dead Poets Society; The Truman Show; Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World)
Ingmar Bergman – 3 (Cries and Whispers; Face to Face; Fanny and Alexander)
Stephen Daldry – 3 (Billy Elliot; The Hours; The Reader)
Bob Fosse – 3 (Cabaret; Lenny; All That Jazz)
Alejandro G. Iñárritu – 3 (Babel; Birdman; The Revenant)
James Ivory – 3 (A Room with a View; Howards End; The Remains of the Day)
Norman Jewison – 3 (In the Heat of the Night; Fiddler on the Roof; Moonstruck)
Stanley Kramer – 3 (The Defiant Ones; Judgment at Nuremberg; Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner)
Ernst Lubitsch – 3 (The Patriot; The Love Parade; Heaven Can Wait)
Alexander Payne – 3 (Sideways, The Descendants; Nebraska)
Arthur Penn – 3 (The Miracle Worker; Bonnie and Clyde; Alice’s Restaurant)
Roman Polanski – 3 (Chinatown; Tess; The Pianist)
Sydney Pollack – 3 (They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?; Tootsie; Out of Africa)
Carol Reed – 3 (The Fallen Idol; The Third Man; Oliver!)
David O. Russell – 3 (The Fighter; Silver Linings Playbook; American Hustle)
Ridley Scott – 3 (Thelma & Louise; Gladiator; Black Hawk Down)
William A. Wellman – 3 (A Star Is Born; Battleground; The High and the Mighty)
Sam Wood – 3 (Goodbye, Mr. Chips; Kitty Foyle; Kings Row)