Steven Spielberg, arguably the most famous and respected filmmaker in cinema history, made Oscar history with his latest nomination for “West Side Story.” He’s the first person nominated for directing in six different decades — surpassing another living legend, Martin Scorsese, who’s been nominated across five.
With two wins — for “Schindler’s List” (1993) and “Saving Private Ryan” (1998) — and five additional noms – for “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1978), “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981), “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” (1982), “Munich” (2005) and “Lincoln” (2012) — Spielberg is now tied as the third most-nominated director with eight (alongside Billy Wilder). He’s one behind Scorsese and four behind William Wyler.
Read more: Variety’s Awards Circuit Predictions Hub
There’s been a narrative bubbling for over a decade that Spielberg should win one more statue in his career. While Spielberg does have crucial nominations that typically lead to an Oscar win, such as DGA, the remake of the 1961 best picture winner stumbled a bit on nomination morning, missing out on mentions for adapted screenplay and editing. No director has won the Oscar without their film being in the running for screenplay and editing. Laurence Olivier came the closest when he was nominated for “Hamlet” (1948), but did not win, despite the film nabbing best picture.
The bottom line is Spielberg’s fellow nominees, particularly Kenneth Branagh (“Belfast”) and Jane Campion (“The Power of the Dog”), are in better positions to take the category. Meanwhile, Paul Thomas Anderson (“Licorice Pizza”) and Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (“Drive My Car”) have better odds in their screenplay races.
We’ll see where the DGA Awards go when winners are announced on March 12.
The Oscars prediction rankings for Feb. 17 are below. All archived predictions can be found here.
UPDATED: Feb 17, 2022
ALL AWARDS CONTENDERS AND RANKINGS:
To see all the latest predictions, of all the categories, in one place, visit THE OSCARS COLLECTIVEVisit each category, per the individual awards show from THE OSCARS HUBTo see old predictions and commentary, click the OSCARS PREDICTIONS ARCHIVES
Revisit the prediction archive of the 2021 season THE ARCHIVELink to television awards is atTHE EMMYS HUB
2022 Academy Awards Predictions
- Best Picture
- Best Director
- Best Actor
- Best Actress
- Best Supporting Actor
- Best Supporting Actress
- Best Original Screenplay
- Best Adapted Screenplay
- Best Animated Feature
- Best Production Design
- Best Cinematography
- Best Costume Design
- Best Film Editing
- Best Makeup and Hairstyling
- Best Sound
- Best Visual Effects
- Best Original Score
- Best Original Song
- Best Documentary Feature
- Best International Feature
- Best Animated Short
- Best Documentary Short
- Best Live-Action Short