Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Director explained

The Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Director is one of the awards given to film directors working in the film industry by the Critics Choice Association at the annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards. It was first given out to Mel Gibson for Braveheart in 1996 as a juried award. Until 2001, only the winner was presented; since then, a set of nominees is announced every year.

Only four directors have received the award more than once with two wins each: Alfonso Cuarón, Sam Mendes, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg. The latter also holds the record of most nominations in the category with eight. Kathryn Bigelow, Jane Campion, and Chloé Zhao are the only female winners of the award.

Winners and nominees

1990s

Year	Director	Film (s)
	Mel Gibson	Braveheart
	Anthony Minghella	The English Patient
	James Cameron	Titanic
	Steven Spielberg	Saving Private Ryan
	Sam Mendes	American Beauty

2000s

Year	Director	Film (s)
	Steven Soderbergh	Erin Brockovich / Traffic
		Gladiator
	Ron Howard (TIE)	A Beautiful Mind
	Baz Luhrmann (TIE)	Moulin Rouge!
	Steven Spielberg	Catch Me If You Can / Minority Report
		The Pianist
		Gangs of New York
	Peter Jackson
		Big Fish
		Lost in Translation
		Mystic River
		In America
	Martin Scorsese	The Aviator
		Million Dollar Baby
		Finding Neverland
		Ray
		Sideways
	Ang Lee	Brokeback Mountain
		Good Night, and Good Luck
		Crash
		Cinderella Man
		Munich
	Martin Scorsese	The Departed
		Dreamgirls
		Letters from Iwo Jima
		The Queen
		United 93
	Joel Coen and Ethan Coen	No Country for Old Men
		Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
		Into the Wild
		The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
		Atonement
	Danny Boyle	Slumdog Millionaire
		The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
		Frost/Nixon
		The Dark Knight
		Milk
	Kathryn Bigelow	The Hurt Locker
		Avatar
		Precious
		Invictus
		Up in the Air
		Inglourious Basterds

2010s

Year	Director	Film (s)
2010 [1]	David Fincher	The Social Network
		Black Swan
		127 Hours
		True Grit
		The King's Speech
		Inception
2011 [2]	Michel Hazanavicius	The Artist
		Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
		The Descendants
		Drive
		Hugo
		War Horse
2012 [3]	Ben Affleck	Argo
		Zero Dark Thirty
		Les Misérables
		Life of Pi
		Silver Linings Playbook
		Lincoln
2013 [4]	Alfonso Cuarón	Gravity
		Captain Phillips
		Her
		12 Years a Slave
		American Hustle
		The Wolf of Wall Street
2014 [5]	Richard Linklater	Boyhood
		The Grand Budapest Hotel
		Selma
		Gone Girl
		Birdman
		Unbroken
2015 [6]	George Miller
		Carol
		The Revenant
		Spotlight
		The Martian
		Bridge of Spies
2016 [7]	Damien Chazelle	La La Land
		Hacksaw Ridge
		Moonlight
		Manchester by the Sea
		Hell or High Water
		Arrival
		Fences
2017 [8]	Guillermo del Toro	The Shape of Water
		Lady Bird
		Call Me by Your Name
		Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
		Dunkirk
		Get Out
		The Post
2018 [9]	Alfonso Cuarón	Roma
		First Man
		A Star Is Born
		Green Book
		The Favourite
		BlacKkKlansman
		Vice
2019 [10]	Bong Joon-ho (TIE)	Parasite
	Sam Mendes (TIE)	1917
		Marriage Story
		Little Women
		Uncut Gems
		The Irishman
		Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

2020s

Year	Director	Film (s)
2020 [11]	Chloé Zhao	Nomadland
		Minari
		Promising Young Woman
		Mank
		One Night in Miami...
		Da 5 Bloods
		The Trial of the Chicago 7
2021 [12]	Jane Campion	The Power of the Dog
		Licorice Pizza
		Belfast
		Nightmare Alley
		West Side Story
		Dune
2022 [13]	Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert	Everything Everywhere All at Once
		Babylon
		Tár
		Elvis
		The Banshees of Inisherin
		Women Talking
		The Woman King
		RRR
		The Fabelmans
2023 [14]	Christopher Nolan	Oppenheimer
		Maestro
		Barbie
		Poor Things
		The Holdovers
		Killers of the Flower Moon

Awards breakdown

Multiple winners

2 wins

• Alfonso Cuarón
• Sam Mendes
• Martin Scorsese
• Steven Spielberg

Multiple nominees

2 nominations

• Kathryn Bigelow
• Danny Boyle
• Tim Burton
• Ethan Coen
• Joel Coen
• Bradley Cooper
• Alfonso Cuarón
• Guillermo del Toro
• Paul Greengrass
• Tom Hooper
• Alejandro González Iñárritu
• Peter Jackson
• Yorgos Lanthimos
• Ang Lee
• Spike Lee
• Baz Luhrmann
• Martin McDonagh
• Sam Mendes
• David O. Russell
• Ridley Scott
• Quentin Tarantino
• Denis Villeneuve

3 nominations

• James Cameron
• Damien Chazelle
• Greta Gerwig
• Ron Howard
• Alexander Payne

4 nominations

• Clint Eastwood
• David Fincher
• Christopher Nolan

7 nominations

• Martin Scorsese

9 nominations

• Steven Spielberg

See also

• BAFTA Award for Best Direction
• Academy Award for Best Director
• Golden Globe Award for Best Director
• Independent Spirit Award for Best Director
• Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film

External links

• Official website

Notes and References

1. Web site: Critics' Choice Awards Spread The Gold: 'Social Network', Fincher, Firth, Portman . January 14, 2011 . . January 14, 2011.
2. Web site: 'The Artist' Best Pic, George Clooney, Viola Davis Top Actors At Critics Choice Awards . January 12, 2012 . . January 12, 2012.
3. Web site: Critics' Choice Movie Awards: 'Argo' Best Picture, Director; Daniel Day-Lewis, Jessica Chastain Take Acting Honors . January 10, 2013 . . January 10, 2013.
4. Web site: Critics' Choice Movie Awards: '12 Years A Slave' Named Best Picture; 'Gravity' Leads Field With 7 Wins . January 16, 2014 . . January 16, 2014.
5. Web site: Critics' Choice Awards: 'Boyhood' Wins Best Picture; 'Birdman' Leads With 7 Nods . Pedersen . Erik . January 15, 2015 . . January 15, 2015.
6. Web site: Critics' Choice Awards: 'Spotlight' Wins Best Picture; 'Mr. Robot' Best Drama Series . Hipes . Patrick . January 17, 2016 . . January 17, 2016.
7. Web site: 2016 Critics' Choice Awards: 'La La Land' Leads With 8 Wins Including Best Picture; Donald Glover Unveils Lando Calrissian 'Stache . Grobar . Matt . Lincoln . Ross A. . December 11, 2016 . . December 11, 2016.
8. Web site: Critics' Choice Awards: 'The Shape Of Water' Wins Best Picture, 'Big Little Lies' Dominates – Full Winners List . Hipes . Patrick . Hayes . Dade . January 11, 2018 . . January 11, 2018.
9. Web site: Critics' Choice Awards: 'Roma' Wins Best Picture To Lead Night; 'The Americans' & 'Mrs. Maisel' Top TV – The Complete Winners List . Hipes . Patrick . Blyth . Antonia . de Moraes . Lisa . January 13, 2019 . . January 13, 2019.
10. Web site: Critics' Choice Awards: 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood' Wins Best Picture, Netflix And HBO Among Top Honorees – Full Winners List . Boucher . Ramos . Geoff . Dino-Ray . January 12, 2020 . . January 12, 2020.
11. Web site: Critics Choice Awards: 'Nomadland', 'The Crown' Among Top Honorees – Complete Winners List . Ramos . Dino-Ray . March 7, 2021 . . March 7, 2021.
12. Web site: Critics Choice Awards 2022: ‘The Power of the Dog,’ ‘Ted Lasso,’ ‘Succession’ Win Big (Full Winners List) . Jackson . Angelique . Shanfeld . Ethan . March 13, 2022 . . January 16, 2023.
13. Web site: Critics‘ Choice Awards 2023 Full Winners List: ’Everything Everywhere All at Once,‘ ’Abbott Elementary‘ and ‘Better Call Saul’ Take Top Honors . Panaligan . EJ . Earl . William . January 15, 2023 . . January 16, 2023.
14. Web site: 'Oppenheimer' Leads Critics Choice Awards with 8 wins, 'Barbie' Scores 6 — Full Winners List . Shanfeld . Ethan . . January 14, 2024 . January 15, 2024.