The Nominees: Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman), Richard Linklater (Boyhood), Bennett Miller (Foxcatcher), Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game) Who Will Win? Richard Linklater (Boyhood) Who Should Win? Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman) The past couple of years Best Director has been awarded to a different film to the one that bagged Best Picture, showing an emergent recognition that film is a collaborative process. Whether it does this year is up in the air (and really depends on who you've got down as the winner of the big prize). It's hard to say Linklater isn't the deserved recipient of the award - as if you didn't know, he shot Boyhood over twelve years - but that's only one facet of the directing process. Birdman is an all round cinematic achievement so engrossing you can forget that it's all one shot in the face of incredible acting, or an engrossing soundtrack, or sweeping commentary, or whatever. And for that reason the award really should go to Iñárritu.
