4. David O. Russell
David O. Russell has climbed the ladder in the past few years. The fifty-five year old releases films at a modest rate, this being just his third since 2010. His last two films have been successes. 2010's The Fighter was a huge critical success, and was nominated for a number of awards. Russell's next outing was last year's even more successful Silver Linings Playbook, which also found itself on the end of a number of nominations and a humble list of successes in the awards season. The Fighter was the director's first film in six years since I Heart Huckabees, which is regarded as a cult classic. The filmmaker is that exciting brand of director, and failure doesn't seem possible. He has had three Oscar nominations for his work on his two most recent films, though perhaps his next film is the one that gets him a win. After all, the stars of his films have enjoyed success. It could well be the man at the helm's turn to reap an individual award, and there's no reason why it isn't possible. He is that rare kind of director where each film he's made has been even better than the one before it. It will be interesting to see if he can continue the trend.