For our fifteenth Rundown article, the person most responsible for bringing all of the parts together. After the jump, you’ll find our winner and runner-up predictions for Best Directing as well as general commentary about the race. Next week, we’ll start off on Monday with a category that quite possibly is the first building block of feature filmmaking.

Best Directing

Winner Predictions

• BlacKkKlansman – Spike Lee
• Cold War – Pawel Pawlikowski
• The Favourite – Yorgos Lanthimos
• Roma – Alfonso Cuaron (WL O) (PP O) (TB O) (TL O)
• Vice – Adam McKay

Runner-Up Predictions

• BlacKkKlansman – Spike Lee (WL O) (PP R) [New] (TB O) (TL O)

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Wesley Lovell: If there was any question over who would win this prize come Oscar time, it was quashed by the Alfonso Cuaron victory at the Directors Guild of America. There is simply no possible way any other director can compete. The only one who could pose a threat is Spike Lee who’s more of a legend than Cuaron and if he wins, look for Roma to be toppled in the Best Picture race.
Peter J. Patrick: Alfonso Cuaron seems unimpeded in earning his second Oscar for Roma, but if there’s an upset, no one is more overdue than Spike Lee who could get his first for BlacKkKlansman.
Tripp Burton: Alfonso Cuaron has been unstoppable this season, and his closest competition is the legendary Spike Lee who never really got a narrative going. Cuaron will be our fifth Three Amigo winner in 6 years.
Thomas La Tourrette: Alfonso Cuaron was leading by far with the most precursor awards for director, and wins at the Directors Guild, Golden Globe, and BAFTAs have definitely cemented him in first place. Roma was just not my favorite film, and I am not certain why it has received such acclaim, but it has. It will definitely win the Oscar for Cuaron. A more interesting choice would have been Spike Lee, nominated for the first time for directing. BlacKkKlansman was definitely an exciting film, and I would have liked to have seen it and Lee honored here. Yorgos Lanthimos’ work on The Favourite was definitely memorable, even if one did not exactly like the film. I see no way that either Vice or Cold War might win, nor really anything but Roma. Cuaron will trounce the competition.

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