Joker director Todd Phillips became a trending topic on Twitter after being revealed as one of five nominees for Best Director at the 92nd Academy Awards, marking the second straight year female directors were shut out in the category. Greta Gerwig earned a nomination in 2018 for her work on Lady Bird, making her the first female filmmaker nominated for the prize since Kathryn Bigelow, who was the first woman to win Best Director in 2010 on behalf of The Hurt Locker. Bigelow was one of just four women at the time to be nominated for the award, following Lina Wertmuller (Seven Beauties), Jane Campion (The Piano), and Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation).
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Phillips will compete for the award with Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood), Bong Joon Ho (Parasite) and Sam Mendes (1917), who walked away with the Best Director prize at the Golden Globes.
Several film fans are taking issue with Phillips’ nomination on Twitter, with some arguing Gerwig should have received a nomination for Little Women. “Todd Phillips getting nominated over Greta Gerwig will be my Joker origin story,” quipped @TylerHuckabee in a tweet that has been favorited more than one thousand times.
Todd Phillips getting nominated over Greta Gerwig will be my Joker origin story.
— tylerthée huckabet (@TylerHuckabee) January 13, 2020
“Todd Phillips over Greta Gerwig or Noah Baumbach is a joke,” wrote @willdarbyshire, referencing Baumbach’s work on Netflix’s Marriage Story, nominated for six Oscars including Best Picture, Best Actress for Scarlett Johansson and Best Actor for Adam Driver.
Joker, meanwhile, leads with 11 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix. Other reactions to Phillips’ nomination follow:
Slide 1
Imagine giving people like Todd Phillips a nomination but not Greta Gerwig or Lulu Wang or any number of female directors who continue to be treated like 2nd class filmmakers https://t.co/VllPhC6mbC
— god’s in his heaven (@zimgiriggins) January 13, 2020
Todd Phillips over Greta Gerwig or Noah Baumbach is a joke. https://t.co/93tRPu1S6S
— Will Darbyshire (@willdarbyshire) January 13, 2020
Slide 8
Folks are freaking out over the lacking of female directors being nominated and I can agree that the inclusion is important, but the only director I think of being worthy is Greta Gerwig for Little Women and I’d push out Todd Phillips.https://t.co/F81Z8VSwun
— Corbin Kingery (@CorbinKingery) January 13, 2020
Slide 2
ur telling me alma har’el or greta gerwig weren’t nominated but butt shit quentin tarantino and todd phillips were ????? https://t.co/zQ5GHIGpGo
— gabi🎞 (@gvw__) January 13, 2020
Slide 9
About Todd Phillips being nominated by @TheAcademy for Best Director over Noah Baumbach/Greta Gerwig:
— Verbraucht. (@CPBOIW) January 13, 2020
Three really good directors. Marriage Story is beautiful. Little Woman is fine, but not great.
Joker is gorgeously filmed, full of iconic scenes, with every line being a quote.
Slide 3
when Todd Phillips gets a directing nom but Greta Gerwig doesn’t lmao this is a joke
— aubrey j (@okcomput1r) January 13, 2020
Slide 10
Understand the dismay at lack of female representation in best director #OscarNoms, don’t understand why anger is directed at Todd Phillips.
— WeeBird (@wee_design) January 13, 2020
a. He’s not responsible for nominations
b. It’s ridiculous to claim that a movie that had the impact ‘Joker’ had should not be included
Slide 4
todd phillips…. greta sweetie I am so sorry
— gare (@geekygare) January 13, 2020
Slide 11
I’m upset that women were paid dust in the directors category this oscar season, but it doesn’t mean that Todd Phillips didn’t deserve a nomination any less pic.twitter.com/vYERUNAcK1
— ange (@wondrousdiana) January 13, 2020
Slide 5
Bong Joon Ho deserves this but really??? Todd Phillips and Quentin Tarantino over Greta Gerwig??? yikes https://t.co/IORTLXpxQq
— pierce woodall (@pawoodall_17) January 13, 2020
Slide 12
Does it suck that no female directors were nominated for Director this morning? YES. But did Todd Phillips do a hell of a job directing Joker? To me, also YES. This isn’t a Green Book situation. Todd crushed it. Don’t target a person for your frustrations. I’d have Greta in too. pic.twitter.com/p5f7cjvY11
— Scott Yager (@SHOTOFYAGER) January 13, 2020
Slide 6
todd phillips getting nominated over greta gerwig is FUCKED MAN I HATE THE OSCARS
— Em 🐿 (@raggamuffin_em) January 13, 2020
Slide 7
IN A YEAR FULL OF INCREDIBLE FEMALE-DIRECTED MOVIES NOT A SINGLE WOMAN NOMINATED FOR BEST DIRECTOR ARE YOU KIDDING AT THIS POINT ITS FUCKING EMBARRASSING.
— Genna (@poliscipan) January 13, 2020
TODD PHILLIPS?! Y’ALL! https://t.co/3V9Mr5VXEg pic.twitter.com/lDlHS6nn0f
Maybe I have no idea what it means to be one of the “best directors” of the year, but I’m quite sure literally ANY female director is more deserving than Todd Phillips.
— emma (@littIeemma) January 13, 2020
Joker is now available to own on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray. The 92nd Academy Awards air Sunday, Feb. 9 on ABC.
