2019 Oscars Snubs: Bradley Cooper Was 6-1 to Win Best Director
By Robert Duff in Entertainment
Updated: April 9, 2020 at 2:08 pm EDTPublished:
- Listed as the second betting choice to win the best director Oscar, Bradley Cooper was snubbed when the nominees were announced Tuesday
- Cooper was nominated for a best director Golden Globe Award
- Roma director Alfonso Cuaron, who won the Golden Globe, is also the Oscar favorite
When it comes to directing, evidently, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences views Bradley as a mini Cooper. Or at the very least, they didn’t see Cooper’s directorial debut as a case of a star is born.
As Oscar nomination day loomed, it appeared that Cooper was in line for a best director nod. He was the second betting choice in Oscars odds leading up to the announcement of the nominees, but shockingly, when that day arrived on Tuesday, it passed without a best director nomination for Cooper.
A Star Is Born producer on Bradley Cooper's Best Director snub: 'No one would be nominated without him' https://t.co/NVq974hqeJ
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) January 22, 2019
He made his directorial debut in the critically-acclaimed remake of A Star Is Born, and most in the industry assumed that his nomination for an Oscar was a foregone conclusion.
But the announcements concluded without that nomination.
Odds to Win Best Director Oscar
| Director | Film | Odds |
|---|---|---|
| Alfonso Cuaron | Roma | -1500 |
| Spike Lee | BlackkKlansman | +600 |
| Adam McKay | Vice | +2000 |
| Yorgos Lanthimos | The Favourite | +2500 |
| Pawel Pawlikowski | Cold War | +2500 |
Was jealousy a factor?
Cooper worked on this project for four years. Not only did he star in it and co-write the screenplay, but the first-time director cast singer Lady Gaga, who’d never acted before, in a lead role.
Maybe they just made it all look too easy.
Will Cooper Snub Hurt The Film’s Chances?
It wasn’t all bad news for A Star Is Born, which garnered eight nominations, including Best Picture. Cooper did get Best Actor and Writing (Adapted Screenplay) nominations, and Lady Gaga (Best Actress) and Sam Elliott (Best Supporting Actor) were also recognized.
Might the Best Director snub affect the film’s chances at capturing the Best Picture Oscar? History says yes. (As do the recent odds.) Out of the last 90 Academy Awards, 64 times the movie that won Best Picture also got the Best Director Oscar.
There is an exception to this rule. In 2012, Argo director Ben Affleck was not nominated, but the film still captured the Best Picture Oscar.
Will They Roam From Roma?
Alfonso Cuaron’s film about life in his Mexican hometown in the 1970s gained 10 nominations. Roma earned best foreign film at the Golden Globes and he was also the Best Director winner.
Yorgos Lanthimos, who directed The Favourite, is nominated, but minus competition from Cooper, it’s Cuaron who is the category’s overwhelming favorite, dropping to odds of -1500. The last four Golden Globe best director winners also won the Oscar.
Cuaron did the double in 2013 with Gravity.
That’s Not Neighborly
Among other Oscar oversights, it was shocking that Won’t You Be My Neighbor, the Mr. Rogers doc, was overlooked in the Best Documentary category. Can you say snubbed?
And to be blunt, where’s Emily Blunt’s Best Actress nomination for Mary Poppins Returns? Does the Academy have something against remakes?
Sports Writer
An industry veteran, Bob literally taught the course on the history of sports at Elder College. He has worked as a Sports Columnist for Postmedia, appeared as a guest on several radio stations, was the Vice President of the Society For International Hockey Research in Ontario, and written 25 books.
