Welcome to Oscar Chaser
What do you do after you reach the top of the mountain?
The Academy Award for Best Director has been handed out annually for 97 years, and each year the recipient has to wake up the next morning and ask themselves, “What now?”
That’s the question whether you’re Steven Spielberg or Chloé Zhao, John Ford or Tom Hooper. Because although the Oscars are often quite silly and have never been the be-all, end-all, clinching a directing win is validation of one’s craft that opens the door to innumerable opportunities, as well as a wide swath of possibilities of where to go next.
Should one zig instead of zag? Go bigger? Or smaller? Cash in on a long-gestating passion project while the support is there?
Standing in the shadow of the films that earned their directors this honor, there’s another batch that had to come next, the “Oscar chasers,” if you will. These are the movies that bring me to this space.
Every Friday, I’ll publish a deep-dive into one of these follow-up films, starting with the most recent winner and moving back in time. I’ll cover every big swing, under-appreciated gem, and flop that our greatest directors chose to take on after their big crowning moments.
For me, it’s an opportunity to contextualize a broad variety of movies from a filmmaker focus, from Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven to Peter Jackson’s King Kong to Richard Attenborough’s disastrous film of A Chorus Line. For you, I hope it’s an opportunity to revisit old favorites, re-evaluate titles you may have written off prematurely, and check out any stuff you may have never seen, all from a unique perspective.
So subscribe away, and let’s get chasing.
As a preview of what to expect, here’s the schedule for the next ten weeks:
Today, April 25: Eternals - Chloé Zhao
May 2: Mickey 17 - Bong Joon-ho
May 9: Nightmare Alley - Guillermo del Toro
May 16: First Man - Damien Chazelle
May 23: Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths - Alejandro González Iñárritu
May 30: The Revenant - Alejandro González Iñárritu
June 6: Roma - Alfonso Cuarón
June 13: Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk - Ang Lee
June 20: The Search - Michel Hazanavicius
June 27: Les Misérables - Tom Hooper