Oscars 2024: Bradley Cooper, Greta Gerwig among leading contenders for Best Director category

Film-goers await the announcement of final nominations for Oscars this year, as the date of announcement comes near. The final nominations of all the top categories will be announced on January 23.

For the category of Best director, the obvious leading contenders are the directors of Barbie and Oppenheimer, Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan respectively. These two films which released on the same date, received massive love both from critics and audience. Besides these two, Martin Scorsese stands tall in the list of probably nominees for his period drama Killers Of The Flower Moon. 

Bradley Cooper most likely to bag a nomination for Maestro

Bradley Cooper, who returned to direction after 5 years, for his monumental biographical drama Maestro, too is one of the leading contenders for a place in the Best Directors nomination list. 

While these 4 filmmakers may be the top most contenders for a place in the nomination list, there are a few other notable, veteran directors who have a strong chance at landing a nomination as well.

Yorgos Laminthos, who has directed cult favourites like The Lobster and The Favourite, is nominated this year for Poor Things. The period satirical drama which stars Emma Stone was received very well by critics and audience alike.

Also, the multi-cultural, multi-generational relationship drama Past Lives has been one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year, receiving praises for everyone from its lead actors Greta Lee to its director Celine Song who now holds a strong chance for a nominations at the Oscars this year.

Jonathan Glazer is the most surprising entrance in top contenders list

Alexander Pyne, who won many major awards this season like Critics Choice Awards for his The Holdovers, is suddenly being touted as a strong contender as well.

The most notable name in the top contenders list is that of Jonathan Glazer, who is only 4 films old in the film industry. His latest film The Zone of Interest was hugely acclaimed by critics, and Glazer even won the Los Angeles Film Critics’ Award for the film.

The 96th Academy Awards will be held on March 11, starting at 4.30 am IST.