8. Bennett Miller - Foxcatcher
Director Bennett Miller has been very successful with the Academy thus far in his extremely young career. On his first feature length outing, Capote, Miller managed to get the film a Best Picture nomination (back when there was still only five nominees) as well as a Best Director nomination for himself and a Best Actor win for the film's star, Phillip Seymour Hoffman. On his second film, Moneyball, he again managed a Best Picture nomination, as well as netting Brad Pitt his acting nomination. At this point then, he is pretty much batting 1.000, so the third film in his blooming oeuvre, Foxcatcher, has to be considered a serious contender. The film has a fascinating premise. Based on the real life murder of former Olympic champion David Schultz at the hands of the schizophrenic heir of the du Pont fortune, John du Pont, the film sounds ripe for Oscar's plucking. Miller proved how adept he is at handling this sort of high drama material with Capote, and mental illness that results in such tragic events as this usually plays well with the Academy. Miller has a pretty good cast in place for the key roles in the film. Mark Ruffalo will play the former Olympic champion and future homicide victim David Schultz, while Channing Tatum plays his bother, a former wrestling champ himself, Mark Schultz. There will also be appearances from the likes of Vanessa Redgrave and Anthony Michael Hall, but perhaps the most interesting bit of casting in the film is that of comedian Steve Carell as the paranoid multi-millionaire John du Pont. Carell has dabbled in dramatic material before, but this is a challenge of a whole different level, and if he manages to stun everyone with his dramatic deftness, is will be the type of image-altering role that can't help but reflect well on the director too. It is inevitable that at some point, Bennett Miller will take a misstep in his career. All directors stumble along the way in their careers, even the great ones, but Foxcatcher just sounds too promising not to believe it will be a major awards player. And if it is a serious contender during the season, Miller will unquestionably be in the hunt for a Best Director nomination.