The Oscars – Best Director Awards – Film Quiz

John Ford won his third award for Best Director with How Green Was My Valley. He became the second director to accomplish three wins in that category, and the first to win in consecutive years. The year before, he won the award for The Grapes of Wrath. This year Citizen Kane was nominated for Academy Awards in nine categories. It was widely thought the film would win most of the awards it was nominated for, but it only won the Best Writing (Original Screenplay).

Annie Hall won four out of five nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actress (Diane Keaton), Best Director (Woody Allen), and Best Original Screenplay (Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman).

Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British drama film directed by Danny Boyle. It was nominated for ten Academy Awards in 2009 and won eight, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

The big winner at the 57th Academy Awards in 1985 was Milos Forman’s Amadeus. The film had received 11 nominations and won 8 Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Milos Forman, and Best actor for F. Murray Abraham. Both Woody Allen and David Lynch were nominated for Best Director two year later at the 59th Academy Awards, but neither won. Martin Scorsese was nominated for The Last Temptation of Christ at the 61st Academy Awards in 1989. The winner that year was Barry Levinson (Rain Man).

Out of Africa is a 1985 American film directed and produced by Sydney Pollack. The film is based loosely on book by Danish author Karen Blixen. Robert Redford and Meryl Streep play the leading characters. The film was nominated in 11 categories and won seven, including: Best Picture, Best Director (Sydney Pollack), Best Adapted Screenplay (Kurt Luedtke), and Best Original Score (John Barry).

Ang Lee has won the Academy Award for Best Director twice, for Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Life of Pi (2012). He has also won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has the record for the most nominations for a foreign language film (10 nominations) and tied with Fanny and Alexander (Bergman) with most wins (4).

Schindler’s List is directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg. It premiered in November, 1993. The year after it was rewarded with seven Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director.

At the 82nd Academy Awards ceremony in 2010, Kathryn Bigelow made history as the first female to win the Oscar for Best Director.

In 2005, at age 74 Clint Eastwood became the oldest director to win the Oscar with the film Million Dollar Baby.

Forrest Gump is a 1994 film based on a novel by Winston Groom. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis and stars Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson, and Sally Field. It won the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director for Robert Zemeckis, Best Actor for Tom Hanks, Best Adapted Screenplay for Eric Roth, Best Visual Effects, and Best Film Editing.