A Changing of the Guard: New-School Filmmakers

A growing trend of the last any award seasons has been the increasing amount of recognition for new-school filmmakers such as David Fincher, Christopher Nolan, Danny Boyle, P.T. Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson, David O. Russell, Darren Aronofsky, and more. All of these guys have been directing films for at least a decade, and a few of them are approaching twenty years of service in Hollywood, so I hesitate to refer to them as "new-school," but it's assuredly something of a new era.

David Fincher's breakthrough film was 1995's "Seven", and he followed that up four years later with "Fight Club". Both films were received warmly by moviegoers and critics, but neither were nominated for any major awards. Skip ahead to 2011, and Fincher already has one Oscar nomination for his directorial work in 2008's "The sharp Case of Benjamin Button". His new film, "The communal Network", has been racking up all kinds of awards and nominations over the last month or two. To say that it's the frontrunner for best photograph at the Oscars this year would be like saying that Charlie Sheen loves hookers and coke - it's obvious.

Charlie Sheen

Directors such as Danny Boyle, Chris Nolan and Tarantino have also been enjoying mainstream success over the last few years. Boyle dominated the Oscars in 2009 with "Slumdog MillionAire", and Tarantino got a well-deserved directorial nomination for "Inglorious Basterds" last year. Chris Nolan pretty much single-handedly caused the Ampas to improve their best photograph field from five to ten films last year, as an phenoMenal amount of "The Dark Knight" supporters voiced their dissent over the film's 2009 Oscar snub. Nolan did score a Dga nomination in 2009, however.

A Changing of the Guard: New-School Filmmakers

Now that these guys have established themselves as major players in the film industry, the nominations have been arrival much less sporadically. Finding at the films of Boyle, Nolan, Fincher and Tarantino, it's clear that their tendencies toward divisive filmmaking is now more mainstream accessible. I'm pretty distinct that films such as Seven, "Fight Club" and "MeMento" would have no question receiving major nominations in this day and age.

There's also a clear disparity in the way that these newer directors are making films compared to old-school directors such as Martin Scorsese, Roman Polanski, Clint Eastwood, etc. New generations of moviegoers are just not as interested in the old-fashioned sensibilities of filmmaking. They'd prefer something more visceral, blunt and stylish. The Ampas is comprised of many older voters, so there's still going to be some favoritism going on with names such as Eastwood, Scorsese and Spielberg - and don't get me wrong, those guys are still very relevant. However, as the all the time eminent Hollywood hype machine continues to be overrun by young critics, bloggers and fanboys, a changing of the guard seems pretty distinct at this point.

So, Finding at the Dga nominations for this year (Fincher, Hooper, Aronofsky, Nolan and Russell) it's pretty sharp to see a whole lineup of fresh faces. Also sharp to point out is that all of these guys were recognized in favor of old-time favorites such as Scorsese, Polanski and Peter Weir. Granted, Scorsese's "Shutter Island" and Polanski's "The Ghost Writer" were released way earlier in the year, but both have carried a decent amount of buzz into Oscar season.

As far as the Oscars go, I see it playing out much like the Dga. I have Fincher, Nolan, Aronofsky and Hooper as virtual locks for director noms at this point. The fifth slot could very well go to David O. Russell, but I'm thinking it'll probably end up going to either Boyle or the Coens. And get used to these faces, as you'll be Finding many of them on award shows for years to come.

A Changing of the Guard: New-School Filmmakers

See Also : Buy Shopping Discount Pro Audio Cable Tester