No Christopher Nolan in Best Director Category

And boy are his fans pissed about it…

Fan-favourite director Christopher Nolan has apparently been snubbed by the Academy a nomination in the category of Best Director.

 The British-American film-maker was heaped with praise from world media, from film critics and from fans over his psychological-drama dreamscape fantasy Inception, which also happened to make a relative fortune despite its complex structure.

So it comes as a surprise to his many fans, who have taken to the twitterverse to express their shock and horror, that he was absent from the category.

The directors in the running to take the prize include Joel and Ethan Coen for True Grit, Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan, David Fincher for The Social Network, David O Russell and Tom Hooper for the acclaimed drama The Kings Speech. It had been predicted that whilst Inception might not challenge the likes of The Kings Speech or The Social Network for Best Picture, it was a strong candidate for Nolan to win the Best Director category come awards season but alas; no cigar.

Inception, released last summer, has been nominated for eight Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Cinematography for Wally Pfister, whose work on the film was as dazzling as any the audience have seen this year but it seems that the Academy have no love for Nolan who has yet to be recognised in the category at all.

He has been nominated three times for the category in the Directors Guild of America awards for Momento, The Dark Knight and now Inception and despite his movies generally doing well for overall nominations, it seems difficult to understand what more he can do. The man has crafted some of the most intricate, special and enthralling cinema since he rose to the fore. Could the consistent lack of acknowledgement be down to the fact that these movies are also usually momentous ( no pun intended) blockbusters?

The Academy, for example, had pretty much ignored the existence of Steven Spielberg until Schindlers List in 1993 but have since gifted him the award again for 1998’s Saving Private Ryan, which ripped through the awards like the shells on Omaha Beach did in the opening of the movie. There was a similar argument about Martin Scorcese, who finally broke through with The Departed. Arguably it was not the director’s finest movie but time was time enough in his case and really, that award was for consistent delivery in the field of cinema.

It’s worth saying that although Spielberg didn’t win until Schindlers List, he was still early to be nominated- receiving one for Close Encounters and Raiders of the Lost Ark. So it begs again the question; why say no to Nolan? Do we care?

Hitchcock never won an award in this category…

Does Nolan need one to continue just the way things were? No, he’s already lining up the third instalment of his Batman trilogy and his regular audience is already close to fever pitch about it…

Would Nolan like one? I’d imagine he wouldn’t say no.