For our eighth Rundown article, we look at one of the most hotly contended categories of the year. After the jump, you’ll find our winner and runner-up predictions for Best Director as well as general commentary about the race. Tuesday, we’ll cover two categories that remake people and landscapes from differing perspectives.

Best Director

Winner Predictions

• Birdman – Alejandro G. Inarritu
• Boyhood – Richard Linklater (WL O) (PP O) (TB O) (TL O)
• Foxcatcher – Bennett Miller
• The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson
• The Imitation Game – Morten Tyldum

Runner-Up Predictions

• Birdman – Alejandro G. Inarritu (WL R) [New] (PP R) [New] (TB R) [New] (TL R) [New]

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Wesley Lovell: The Directors Guild of America cemented the guild love of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu with a triumphant victory over Richard Linklater in the first cracks in the veneer of the Linklater juggernaut. The problem is, historically splits aren’t that common and all signs still point towards DGA being the outlier this year and not the defining award. Of course, it makes the race seem even closer than it was before this weekend.
Peter J. Patrick: Despite the DGA’s surprise award to Inarritu, I think Linklater’s twelve-year labor of love is still the one to beat.
Tripp Burton: The two front-runners in this category both got nominated after overcoming gigantic obstacles they put ahead of themselves: the decade-plus shooting schedule of Boyhood, and the single take pacing of Birdman. After the DGA win, it would be poor judgment to vote against Inarritu, but this is a much closer competition than we may think it is. Ask BAFTA winner Richard Linklater.
Thomas La Tourrette: UPDATED: Until the DGAs, I thought nothing could stop Richard Linklater in this field. He has won the most precursors, and it seems likely that will continue with a win the Oscars as well. I enjoyed Boyhood, and can admire the effort that went into making a film over 12 years, though I don’t know that I would say it was a perfect movie. It was a little slow moving in places, and slightly longer than it should have been, but it appears he will get his first Oscar. If anyone were to pull an upset, I think it would be Inarritu who created a very unique movie in Birdman. He would be my Oscar pick, and evidently the DGA agreed with me. Wes Anderson will have some people pulling for him, but I don’t see The Grand Budapest Hotel having enough support to pull off the upset here. It has turned into a closer race than I would have guessed, but I still expect Linklater to easily win.)

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