Today's question comes from Colin Miller:
Last year, I asked, "Name the actor who appeared in multiple films, every one of which was nominated for Best Picture." The answer was John Cazale, who was in Dog Day Afternoon, The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather, Part II , Dog Day Afternoon, and The Deer Hunter before dying of bone cancer soon after the filming of The Deer Hunter.
My first question this year is: "Name the three directors who have been nominated for Best Director for the only feature length fictional film(s) that they directed or have directed so far."
Terrence Malick?
Terrence Malick is one of my favorite directors (I'm very much looking forward to "The Tree of Life" this May), but he has only been nominated for Best Director once (for "The Thin Red Line"). He wasn't nominated for "Badlands," "Days of Heaven," or "The New World."
Sofia Coppola?
Like Terrence Malick, Sofia Coppola is batting .250, with a nomination for "Lost in Translation," but no nominations for "The Virgin Suicides," "Marie Antoinette," or "Somewhere."
Perhaps Stephen Daldry, a Best Director nominee for Billy Elliott, The Hours, and The Reader.
Yes, Stephen Daldry is the only director who has directed more than one feature length fictional film and been nominated for Best Director for each movie. This means that there is a good chance that he will be nominated for his next movie, his adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" with Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, due out next year.
Tom Hooper (The King's Speech)?
Tom Hooper just won the DGA Award and looks to have a decent chance of winning Best Director at the Oscars, but "The King's Speech" is his second movie, and he wasn't nominated for "The Damned United," his first movie.
Bennett Miller for Capote (only other film was The Cruise, which is a documentary).
BTW, where was the Day 29 question?
Jerome Robbins (West Side Story, shared the win with Robert Wise. One of only four times the DGA has allowed a directing duo to be nominated together).
Yeah, Garrett, you got the other two. Bennett Miller's second non-documentary feature, his adaptation of Michael Lewis' "Moneyball" comes out later this year.