Best Director of the Year

The Best Director candidates are not selected by nominations from Cosmo voters. Instead, they are selected through a formula that considers their nominations and wins at the major movie awards (Golden Globes, BAFTAs, Directors Guild of America, and the Oscars, among others) as well as the number of nominations their film received at the Cosmos. The Cosmo nominees are weighted to better emphasize categories over which the director has the greatest influence, to somewhat reduce the influence of niche categories, and to add a penalty for negative nominations.

The reason for this unique difference in the nominations began as an accident. Nominations were already underway for the 2001 Awards when we decided at the last minute to include a Best Director category. Since nomination ballots were already being returned, we had to choose our Best Director nominees through some other process, and chose to include all of the directors that had been nominated at the Oscars, Golden Globes, and Directors Guild of America Awards. This worked, and given the “behind the scenes” nature of the director’s role, we decided to keep a modified version of the nomination process for future awards. It is the only award in which voters do not directly nominate the nominees, though like all the other awards, they do choose the winners.

Best Director of a 2001 Film

Winner

  • Robert Altman – Gosford Park (2001)

Additional Nominees

  • Ron Howard – A Beautiful Mind (2001)
  • Peter Jackson – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
  • Baz Luhrmann – Moulin Rouge (2001)
  • David Lynch – Mulholland Drive (2001)
  • Christopher Nolan – Memento (2001)
  • Ridley Scott – Black Hawk Down (2001)

Best Director of a 2002 Film

Winner

  • Rob Marshall – Chicago (2002)

Additional Nominees

  • Stephen Daldry – The Hours (2002)
  • Todd Haynes – Far From Heaven (2002)
  • Peter Jackson – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
  • Martin Scorsese – Gangs of New York (2002)

Best Director of a 2003 Film

Winner

  • Peter Jackson – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Additional Nominees

  • Tim Burton – Big Fish (2003)
  • Sofia Coppola – Lost in Translation (2003)
  • Bryan Singer – X2: X-Men United (2003)
  • Gore Verbinski – Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
  • Peter Weir – Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

Best Director of a 2004 Film

Winner

  • Martin Scorsese – The Aviator (2004)

Additional Nominees

  • Zach Braff – Garden State (2004)
  • Clint Eastwood – Million Dollar Baby (2004)
  • Michel Gondry – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
  • Mike Nichols – Closer (2004)
  • Alexander Payne – Sideways (2004)

Best Director of a 2005 Film

Winner

  • Ang Lee – Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Additional Nominees

  • Gregg Araki – Mysterious Skin (2005)
  • George Clooney – Good Night, and Good Luck (2005)
  • Paul Haggis – Crash (2005)
  • Bennett Miller – Capote (2005)
  • Joss Whedon – Serenity (2005)

Best Director of a 2006 Film

Winner

  • Jonathan Dayton – Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
  • Valerie Faris – Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
  • John Cameron Mitchell – Shortbus (2006)

Additional Nominees

  • Bill Condon – Dreamgirls (2006)
  • Stephen Frears – The Queen (2006)
  • Martin Scorsese – The Departed (2006)

Best Director of a 2010 Film

Winner

  • Christopher Nolan – Inception (2010)

Additional Nominees

  • Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan (2010)
  • David Fincher – The Social Network (2010)
  • Tom Hooper – The King’s Speech (2010)
  • David O. Russell – The Fighter (2010)

Best Director of a 2012 Film

Winner

  • Ben Affleck – Argo (2012)

Additional Nominees

  • Kathryn Bigelow – Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
  • Tom Hooper – Les Miserables (2012)
  • Peter Jackson – The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
  • David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
  • Steven Spielberg – Lincoln (2012)

Best Director of a 2013 Film

Winner

  • Alfonso Cuarón – Gravity (2013)

Additional Nominees

  • Paul Greengrass – Captain Phillips (2013)
  • Peter Jackson – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
  • Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave (2013)
  • David O. Russell – American Hustle (2013)
  • Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Best Director of a 2014 Film

Winner

  • Richard Linklater – Boyhood (2014)

Additional Nominees

  • Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
  • David Fincher – Gone Girl (2014)
  • Dan Gilroy – Nightcrawler (2014)
  • Alejandro G. Iñárritu – Birdman (2014)
  • Morten Tyldum – The Imitation Game (2014)

Best Director of a 2015 Film

Winner

  • George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Additional Nominees

  • Todd Haynes – Carol (2015)
  • Tom Hooper – The Danish Girl (2015)
  • Alejandro G. Iñárritu – The Revenant (2015)
  • Tom McCarthy – Spotlight (2015)
  • Ridley Scott – The Martian (2015)

Best Director of a 2016 Film

Winner

  • Barry Jenkins – Moonlight (2016)

Additional Nominees

  • Damien Chazelle – La La Land (2016)
  • Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea (2016)
  • David Mackenzie – Hell or High Water (2016)
  • Theodore Melfi – Hidden Figures (2016)
  • Denis Villeneuve – Arrival (2016)

Best Director of a 2017 Film

Winner

  • Guillermo Del Toro – The Shape of Water (2017)

Additional Nominees

  • Greta Gerwig – Lady Bird (2017)
  • Luca Guadagnino – Call Me By Your Name (2017)
  • Patty Jenkins – Wonder Woman (2017)
  • Christopher Nolan – Dunkirk (2017)
  • Jordan Peele – Get Out (2017)

Best Director of a 2018 Film

Winner

  • Bradley Cooper – A Star is Born (2018)

Additional Nominees

  • Ryan Coogler – Black Panther (2018)
  • Alfonso Cuarón – Roma (2018)
  • Yorgos Lanthimos – The Favourite (2018)
  • Spike Lee – BlacKkKlansman (2018)
  • Adam McKay – Vice (2018)

Best Director of a 2019 Film

Winner

  • Bong Joon-ho – Parasite

Additional Nominees

  • Greta Gerwig – Little Women
  • Sam Mendes – 1917
  • Todd Phillips – Joker
  • Martin Scorsese – The Irishman
  • Quentin Tarantino – Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood

Best Director of a 2020 Film

Winner

  • Chloé Zhao – Nomadland

Additional Nominees

  • Lee Isaac Chung – Minari
  • Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
  • David Fincher – Mank
  • Patty Jenkins – Wonder Woman 1984
  • George C. Wolfe – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

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