10 Best Directors That Have Never Won An Oscar
3. Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam might not immediately come to mind when you think of great directors; he doesn’t take himself overly seriously and has a solid career in front of the camera too.
Upon hearing he’s never won Best Director, most people’s reaction might be to simply shrug and tut something about it being a tough business. But once you take a look at what that means, it becomes an injustice.
Gilliam’s lack of wins means the man behind the lens of The Holy Grail, The Meaning Of Life, Brazil, Twelve Monkeys and Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas has never won the Best Director Academy Award. Worse, he’s never even been nominated.
His single nomination came for writing in Brazil, which he didn’t even win.
Just as Hitchcock typifies the idea that horror movies never please the Academy, Gilliam (and by extension, Monty Python) show that comedy is looked upon with just as much scorn.
Across The Meaning Of Life, The Life Of Brian and The Holy Grail, they received no Oscar nominations in any category. In fact, the only major award nomination at all was the BAFTA for Best Song, for which The Meaning Of Life’s ‘Every Sperm Is Sacred’ was a losing nominee.