Could Jon M. Chu Crack the Oscars' Best Director Race With 'Wicked: Part One'? - 'For Your Consideration'

On an all-new episode of For Your Consideration — Hollywood’s #1 awards-themed talk show — Scott Mantz, Perri Nemiroff and Jeff Sneider revisit the Best Director race, which got shaken up this week with the arrival of James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown and Jon M. Chu’s Wicked: Part One.

Anora director Sean Baker still feels like the closest thing to a frontrunner, though Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist has yet to peak this awards season, and there’s clear admiration out there for what Coralie Fargeat accomplished with The Substance.

Meanwhile, the blockbuster filmmakers are duking it out for a slot — Ridley Scott (Gladiator II), Denis Villeneuve (Dune: Part Two), and Chu, — while old-timers like Clint Eastwood (Juror #2) and Mike Leigh (Hard Truths) linger on the edge of the race.

Elsewhere, Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu is said to be stunning, as well as the most accessible film of his career, while Babygirl represents a huge leap forward for Halina Reijn. Both are starting to gain momentum, but on the flip side, Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez is starting to lose momentum after coming under fire following its debut on Netflix.

There are other “artsier” movies in the discussion such as Pedro Almódovar’s English-language debut The Room Next Door, RaMell Ross’ Nickel Boys, and Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, but Jeff still has to see those three movies before he can say whether any of their directors stands a real chance.

As of now, our CURRENT PREDICTIONS are Sean Baker (Anora), Brady Corbet (The Brutalist), Edward Berger (Conclave), Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez), and, well, you’ll just have to watch the episode to see who nabbed the final slot…

We have ambitious plans for FYC this season, as we’d like to incorporate some interviews into the show, and possibly host some roundtables as well. So if you represent crafts contenders in the below-the-line categories, or you represent documentaries, animated movies, or international features, please reach out, as we’d love to work with you, and our advertising rates are a bargain considering our collective reach across social media.

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For Your Consideration will now be taped on a weekly basis as awards season ramps up, so thank you for watching, and feel free to leave a comment on Perri’s YouTube channel, as we welcome constructive feedback from all FYC fans. I may even feature select comments in this newsletter — especially if they’re from the Hollywood community, which is also welcome to email me.

Watch the latest episode above, and until next time — when we revisit the Best Actress race — we'll FYC-ya later!

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