Best Director

Peter Jackson
(The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King)

Okay, Peter, we get it. You're a very, very good director. Now let someone else have a turn. For the third year in a row, Peter Jackson takes the Calvin for Best Director for a film in the Lord of the Rings series. Granted, it's the closest he's come with the trilogy to being unseated but a streak is a streak. Jackson received ten first place votes here, the most of anyone in any category, but due to the quirks of our voting system, could have been unseated by just a single well-placed vote, meaning the competition was that much fiercer this year.

Jackson's continual handling of such an epic scale project without false steps and with pressure on all sides is beyond impressive considering the complexity of the beloved source material and the necessity of wrapping up a close to ten-hour trilogy. That he did so while making superior films is all the more amazing. Congratulations on your achievement Peter... but please stop bogarting all the awards.

The most serious challenger to the throne was Lost in Translation's Sofia Coppola. In just her second film, she has now laid claim to being a talent perhaps the equal of her famous father. Her deft creation of mood and the terrific performances she drew out of her actors in this film make her a very worthy second place finisher and put a big exclamation point on the idea that she is a major talent to watch out for.

Golden Boy Quentin Tarantino brought Kill Bill Vol. 1 into third place; his Unfinished Symphony of violence and revenge resulting in a triumph of style, not to say there's no substance. Borrowing heavily from many genres but making them his own (and continuing his non-linear narratives), Tarantino took his first jump into pure action and proved he can make the screen drip red with blood with the best of them.

The Academy stole our thunder in seeing fit to nominate Fernando Meirelles of City of God for Best Director, but we won't hold a grudge; this young Scorsese-in-training deserves to be seen and supported.

The efforts of directors of animated films are consistently overlooked as if they needed to do less to create a film. Of course there's still pacing, themes, "camera" positioning and handling your actors... you know, all those things "real" directors do. Andrew Stanton, the director of Finding Nemo, gets his due recognition here, coming in fifth. Tied with him is living legend Clint Eastwood, director of Mystic River. Eastwood handled a large ensemble well, weaving a complicated story in a deceptively simple fashion.

Coming in seventh is Niki Caro, director of Whale Rider, who gets here on the basis of her storytelling ability, turning an ancient Maori legend on its ear, and getting a brilliant performance out of her young star. Gore Verbinski is next having created an endlessly fun action romp in Pirates of the Caribbean. Continuing the nautical theme is Peter Weir, director of Master and Commander, who blended stirring action scenes with subtle characterization. Rounding out this top ten is Bryan Singer, helmer of X2, capturing the fanboy championship in a stunning upset over the Wachowski Brothers. Last year in this space, I predicted a tight race for this year because of the Matrix sequels and Ang Lee coming out with Hulk. It was a tight race, but for very different reasons, which just goes to show you never can predict how things are going to turn out. (Reagen Sulewski/BOP)

Top Ten
Position	Director	Film	Total Points
1	Peter Jackson	The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King	125
2	Sofia Coppola	Lost in Translation	112
3	Quentin Tarantino	Kill Bill Vol. 1	69
4	Fernando Meirelles	City of God	64
5 (tie)	Andrew Stanton	Finding Nemo	48
5 (tie)	Clint Eastwood	Mystic River	48
7	Niki Caro	Whale Rider	43
8	Gore Verbinski	Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl	39
9	Peter Weir	Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World	36
10	Bryan Singer	X2: X-Men United	33