Oscars

The incredible streak of Best Director Oscar winners that is guaranteed to continue in 2025

At this weekend’s Academy Awards, the recipient of the Best Director statuette is certain to continue a growing sequence at the Oscars.

Daniel Cole

William Allen

British journalist and translator who joined Diario AS in 2013. Focuses on soccer – chiefly the Premier League, LaLiga, the Champions League, the Liga MX and MLS. On occasion, also covers American sports, general news and entertainment. Fascinated by the language of sport – particularly the under-appreciated art of translating cliché-speak.

Update: Mar 1st, 2025 19:04 EST

Whoever scoops Best Director at Sunday’s Oscars, we are guaranteed to witness a first-time recipient. All five of the nominees have not only never won the accolade, but have not even been nominated before.

Who was the last multiple Best Director winner?

As is noted by ScreenRant’s Max Ruscinski, this year’s debutants-only Best Director category will continue a sequence of first-time winners that stretches back to 2019, when Alfonso Cuáron was the award’s last repeat recipient. Cuáron was named Best Director for Roma, having also claimed the prize for Gravity five years earlier.

Ruscinski also points out that this year’s Academy Awards are the first to involve a clean sweep of first-time Best Director nominees since 1998, when James Cameron earned one of Titanic’s joint-record 11 Oscars.

Who has been nominated for Best Director in 2025?

Sean Baker, Anora

Brady Corbet, The Brutalist

James Mangold, A Complete Unknown

Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez

Coralie Fargeat, The Substance

Who is the favorite for Best Director 2025?

According to the betting comparison website Oddschecker, Anora’s Sean Baker is the bookmakers’ favorite, with The Brutalist’s Brady Corbet in hot pursuit in what has developed into a close, two-horse race.

Baker won out at last month’s Directors Guild of America Awards - a ceremony whose victor regularly goes on to triumph at the Oscars - and a majority of critics appear to be expecting the 54-year-old to edge out Corbet.

Film journalists such as The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw and RogerEbert.com’s Brian Tallerico predict a Corbet win.

However, Tallerico’s RogerEbert.com colleagues Matt Zoller Seitz, Robert Daniels, Nell Minow and Clint Worthington all anticipate a victory for Baker, as does Variety’s Clayton Davis. The same goes for The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg and David Rooney, ScreenRant’s Cooper Hood, and the BBC’s Nicholas Barber and Caryn James.

“[Baker] should win,” James writes. “He made Anora feel effortless, but beneath that apparent ease is some masterful work”.

Watch the trailers for the Best Director-nominated movies

Anora:

The Brutalist:

A Complete Unknown:

Emilia Pérez:

The Substance:

When are the 2025 Academy Awards?

Hosted by Conan O’Brien, the 2025 Oscars are to be held at at 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 2, at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre.

The 97th Academy Awards will be broadcast live in the U.S. by ABC and Hulu. You can stream ABC on the online platform fubo, which offers new users a free, introductory trial.