10 Best Directors That Have Never Won An Oscar

Paul Thomas Anderson has been nominated for eight Academy Awards across different categories, but has never won one.

For Best Director, Phantom Thread and There Will Be Blood are the only two he’s received nods for, with those two also snagging Best Picture nominations. There Will Be Blood, along with Inherent Vice, Magnolia and Boogie Nights all scored him Best Writing nominations too.

But still, no wins. That’s not even taking into account that Punch Drunk Love and The Master were ignored completely.

Unlike some of the directors here who’ve made a name for themselves as genre stars or household names, there’s not much for the Academy to sneer at with Anderson. He makes movies for people exactly like them; most in the general public have probably heard of one or two of his movies, but certainly couldn’t match up that he directed him.

Most people probably couldn’t even pick him out of a lineup.

It doesn’t seem personal or political with Paul Thomas Anderson; he’s just fallen short a few times. The quality of his movies speak for themselves, but when it comes to the Oscars, it appears he’s just been very unlucky.