NEW YORK – The Academy Awards category for best director has historically been two things: white and male. This year, the five nominees are a slightly more diverse crowd.
Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”) is only the fourth woman to be nominated. If she wins, she’ll be the first woman to ever take home a directing Oscar. Lee Daniels (“Precious: Based on the Novel `Push’ by Sapphire”) is only the second black filmmaker to be nominated for best director in the 81-year-history of the Academy Awards. John Singleton, in 1992 for “Boys N the Hood,” was the first.
