Empire Award for Best Director

Empire Award for Best Director
Awarded forBest film direction
CountryUnited Kingdom
Presented byEmpire magazine
First awarded1996
Currently held byRian Johnson - Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2018)
Empire Awards

The Empire Award for Best Director was an Empire Award presented annually by the British film magazine Empire to honor directors working within the film industry.

History

The Empire Award for Best Director was one of five awards which were first introduced at the 1st Empire Awards ceremony in 1996 (the others being Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Film and Best British Film) with Danny Boyle receiving the award for his direction of Shallow Grave. Winners were chosen by the readers of Empire magazine.

Since its inception, the award was given to 16 directors. Christopher Nolan has received the most awards in this category with three awards. Christopher Nolan and Peter Jackson were nominated on seven occasions, more than any other director. Kathryn Bigelow and Patty Jenkins are the only female directors to be nominated for the award. Rian Johnson was the most recent winner in this category for his direction of Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Winners and nominees

In the list below, winners are listed first in boldface, followed by the other nominees. The number of the ceremony (1st, 2nd, etc.) appears in parentheses after the awards year, linked to the article (if any) on that ceremony.

"†" indicates Academy Award for Best Director winner

"‡" indicates Academy Award for Best Director nominee

1990s

Year Director Film Ref.
1996
(1st) 		Danny Boyle Shallow Grave [1]
1997
(2nd) 		Terry Gilliam 12 Monkeys [2]
1998
(3rd) 		Cameron Crowe Jerry Maguire [3]
1999
(4th) 		Steven Spielberg † Saving Private Ryan [4][5]
Ang Lee The Ice Storm
James Cameron † Titanic
Peter Weir ‡ The Truman Show
Steven Soderbergh Out of Sight

2000s

Year Director Film Ref.
2000
(5th) 		M. Night Shyamalan ‡ The Sixth Sense [6][7]
Ang Lee Ride with the Devil
Lily and Lana Wachowski The Matrix
David Fincher Fight Club
George Lucas Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace
2001
(6th) 		Bryan Singer X-Men [8][9]
Ang Lee ‡ Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Christopher Nolan Memento
Michael Mann ‡ The Insider
Paul Thomas Anderson Magnolia
2002
(7th) 		Baz Luhrmann Moulin Rouge! [10][11]

[12]

Cameron Crowe Almost Famous
Peter Jackson ‡ The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Steven Soderbergh † Traffic
Steven Spielberg A.I. Artificial Intelligence
2003
(8th) 		Steven Spielberg Minority Report [13]
M. Night Shyamalan Signs
Peter Jackson The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Sam Raimi Spider-Man
Steven Soderbergh Ocean's Eleven
2004
(9th) 		Quentin Tarantino Kill Bill: Volume 1 [14]
Anthony Minghella Cold Mountain
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen Intolerable Cruelty
Peter Jackson † The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Peter Weir Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
2005
(10th) 		Sam Raimi Spider-Man 2 [15]
M. Night Shyamalan The Village
Michael Mann Collateral
Michel Gondry Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Quentin Tarantino Kill Bill: Volume 2
2006
(11th) 		Nick Park and Steve Box Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit [a][16]

[17][18]

Christopher Nolan Batman Begins
Joe Wright Pride & Prejudice
Peter Jackson King Kong
Ron Howard Cinderella Man
Steven Spielberg War of the Worlds
2007
(12th) 		Christopher Nolan The Prestige [19]
Bryan Singer Superman Returns
George Clooney ‡ Good Night, and Good Luck
Guillermo del Toro Pan's Labyrinth
Martin Scorsese † The Departed
2008
(13th) 		David Yates Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix [20]
David Fincher Zodiac
Edgar Wright Hot Fuzz
Joe Wright Atonement
Paul Greengrass The Bourne Ultimatum
2009
(14th) 		Christopher Nolan The Dark Knight [21]
Andrew Stanton WALL-E
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen † No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson ‡ There Will Be Blood
Tim Burton Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

2010s

Year Director Film Ref.
2010
(15th) 		James Cameron ‡ Avatar [22][23]
J. J. Abrams Star Trek
Kathryn Bigelow † The Hurt Locker
Neill Blomkamp District 9
Quentin Tarantino ‡ Inglourious Basterds
2011
(16th) 		Edgar Wright Scott Pilgrim vs. the World [24][25]
Christopher Nolan Inception
David Fincher ‡ The Social Network
Matthew Vaughn Kick-Ass
Tom Hooper † The King's Speech
2012
(17th) 		David Yates Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 [26]
Nicolas Winding Refn Drive
Rupert Wyatt Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Steven Spielberg War Horse
Tomas Alfredson Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2013
(18th) 		Sam Mendes Skyfall [27]
Christopher Nolan The Dark Knight Rises
Joss Whedon The Avengers
Peter Jackson The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Quentin Tarantino Django Unchained
2014
(19th) 		Alfonso Cuarón † Gravity [28]
Edgar Wright The World's End
Paul Greengrass Captain Phillips
Peter Jackson The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Steve McQueen ‡ 12 Years a Slave
2015
(20th) 		Christopher Nolan Interstellar [29][30]
Matt Reeves Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Morten Tyldum ‡ The Imitation Game
Peter Jackson The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Richard Linklater ‡ Boyhood
2016
(21st) 		J. J. Abrams Star Wars: The Force Awakens [31]
Ryan Coogler Creed
Alejandro G. Iñárritu † The Revenant
George Miller ‡ Mad Max: Fury Road
Ridley Scott The Martian
2017
(22nd) 		Gareth Edwards Rogue One: A Star Wars Story [32][33]
Taika Waititi Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Denis Villeneuve ‡ Arrival
Ken Loach I, Daniel Blake
Andrea Arnold American Honey
2018
(23rd) 		Rian Johnson Star Wars: The Last Jedi [34][35]
Edgar Wright Baby Driver
Jordan Peele ‡ Get Out
Patty Jenkins Wonder Woman
Taika Waititi Thor: Ragnarok

Notes

  1. ^ The 11th Empire Awards in 2006 had six nominees (instead of the usual five) for Best Director.

Multiple awards and nominations

Multiple awards

The following individuals received two or more Best Director awards:

Awards Film
3 Christopher Nolan
2 David Yates
Steven Spielberg

Multiple nominations

The following individuals received two or more Best Director nominations:

Nominations Film
7 Christopher Nolan
Peter Jackson
5 Steven Spielberg
4 Quentin Tarantino
Edgar Wright
3 Ang Lee
David Fincher
M. Night Shyamalan
Steven Soderbergh
2 Bryan Singer
Cameron Crowe
David Yates
J. J. Abrams
James Cameron
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Joe Wright
Michael Mann
Paul Greengrass
Paul Thomas Anderson
Peter Weir
Sam Raimi
Taika Waititi

References

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  3. ^ "Past Winners - 1998". Empireonline.com. Bauer Consumer Media. 2003. Archived from the original on October 14, 2012. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
  4. ^ "Best Director". Empireonline.co.uk. 1999. Archived from the original on August 19, 2000.
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