BEST DIRECTOR CONTENDER:
Ridley Scott, American Gangster

Teaming with two of our greatest leading men (and crafting a blistering crime drama) should earn Scott his fourth career nomination.

OTHER POSSIBILITIES:
Tim Burton, Sweeney Todd
Marc Forster, The Kite Runner
Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell...
Sean Penn, Into the Wild
Joe Wright, Atonement

LONG SHOTS:
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
David Cronenberg, Eastern Promises
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Sidney Lumet, Before the Devil...
Jason Reitman, Juno