“Past Lives” put Celine Song in a special club of directors whose first films were Best Picture nominees, as only eight other first-time film directors have done this in the expanded ballot era. This has put Song’s second film, “Materialists,” under a greater microscope as it opens on June 13th, yet the second films from debut Oscar nominees have a more mixed track record.
Since “American Fiction” Oscar winner Cord Jefferson doesn’t have a second film ready yet, seven other directors before Song have followed up their Best Picture nominated debuts since 2009. The likes of “Lady Bird” and “Little Women” director Greta Gerwig and “Toy Story 3” and “Coco” director Lee Unkrich don’t count since they each co-directed films before making solo Oscar-nominated features all on their own.
Out of those who solo directed Oscar-nominated debuts in the last 16 years, these seven followed up with wildly different results.
Bradley Cooper: Followed “A Star is Born” With “Maestro”
As much as certain critics and pundits lamented “Maestro” throughout the 2023 season, it still made history of sorts. Of all the first-time directors who made a Best Picture nominee right off the bat in this era, Cooper is the only one to date who did it again with their second film as well. In fact, “Maestro” is the only follow-up film on this list to get any Oscar nominations at all.
Just like with “A Star is Born,” Cooper received a Best Picture nomination, missed out on a Best Director nomination, got himself and his leading lady lead acting nominations as well, and then got yet another one for co-writing the script to boot. And just like with “A Star is Born,” this second Cooper film lost all of its major nominations anyway, widening Cooper’s lead as the most nominated figure never to win an Oscar in this era.
But while “A Star is Born” at least got a token win for Best Song, “Maestro” was completely shut out, even for Cooper’s controversial makeup. Yet unlike with “A Star is Born,” there were more cheers and relief in several online circles when this Cooper film kept losing on Oscar night. Nonetheless, “Maestro” still performed worlds better than every other second-time director on this list did, if just in the first part of awards season.
Florian Zeller: Followed “The Father” With “The Son”
Cooper’s second film wasn’t as nearly universally beloved as his first, but it still racked up nominations and at least some die-hard support. There was no such mercy for the second film from “The Father“ Oscar winner Zeller, who made the ultimate cautionary tale for second-time directors in every way possible.
As much as some thought “Maestro“ and other follow-up films from first-time directors were significant steps down from their debuts, nothing compares to the massive drop off “The Son“ suffered from “The Father.“ Whereas “The Father” came on stronger in the last stage of its awards campaign than almost any film has in this era, “The Son“ started off wrong at its Venice and Toronto festival premieres and just kept on sinking from there, going from preseason across-the-board Oscar favorite to one of the most despised symbols of tone-deaf Oscar bait in recent memory.
Maybe Oscar-winning debut films like “The Father“ set too high a bar for directors to reach a second time in a row. But in contrast, “The Son“ is the lowest possible bar they can go over at minimum for starters.
Emerald Fennell: Followed “Promising Young Woman“ With “Saltburn”
If “Maestro“ is the high bar for these second-time directors, at least in terms of Oscar nominations, and “The Son“ is the lowest creative bar, “Saltburn“ ended up somewhere in between for “Promising Young Woman“ Oscar winner Fennell. This follow-up film from someone who won a 2020 Screenplay Oscar for their first movie wasn’t as embarrassing as “The Son,“ but that doesn’t mean everyone was comfortable sitting through it all – whether Fennell wanted them to be or not.
“Saltburn“ had its fair share of fans who gave it a cult following, yet it didn’t have the wider reach of “Promising Young Woman“ – not as a social satire, a tragedy beyond mere shock value, or as an awards contender. All it really provided was memes, a rather unsettling line of bathwater candles, and a revival of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s song “Murder on the Dancefloor,“ but not a single Oscar nomination came along with all that. Unlike every other follow-up film on this list besides “Maestro,“ it had some marginal recognition from other major groups first.
Jordan Peele: Followed “Get Out“ With “Us”
Like with “Saltburn“ and Fennell, Peele won a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for his first film and yet had his second film completely snubbed everywhere. Unlike with “Saltburn,“ there was a more widespread lament about it, albeit mostly over Lupita Nyong’o’s snub for Best Actress, if nothing else.
In some ways, “Us“ is the most successful follow-up for a first-time director/Oscar nominee, as it matched “Get Out“ at the box office and yielded two of the most decorated performances of the year from one person – if only decorated by critics’ groups. But despite Nyong’o’s early season honors, Peele wasn’t noticed by voters of any kind this time around, and neither was his movie as a whole.
“Us“ is still adored as the middle chapter in Peele’s career-opening trilogy as a director. However, “Get Out“ remains a magic trick he hasn’t replicated with Oscar voters since.
Neill Blomkamp: Followed “District 9“ With “Elysium”
In the first year of the expanded ballot era, “District 9“ was undoubtedly one of the films that benefited from a larger field. With it, Blomkamp’s late summer hit/alien refugee parable joined the original “Avatar“ as a sci-fi blockbuster awards crossover. For his second film, Blomkamp clearly thought the same formula would work again, as “Elysium“ presented another futuristic dystopia on the brink of rebellion, bringing “District 9“ human star Sharlto Copley back on the other side of the battle-lines this time, and added Matt Damon and Jodie Foster for insurance.
Yet in the box office and reviews, “Elysium’s” world, messages, and modern-day parallels didn’t hit the same nerve as “District 9’s“ did. For that matter, neither did Blomkamp’s next attempt in “Chappie,“ as he has still struggled to match “District 9“ with follow-up films and others that never got off the ground.
Garth Davis: Followed “Lion“ With “Mary Magdalene”
Davis wasn’t technically a first-time director when he made the Best Picture nominee “Lion“ in 2016, as he co-directed the TV series “Top of the Lake“ with Jane Campion three years earlier. After “Lion“ earned nominations for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and for Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman, Davis went much further back in time to the birth of Jesus – or rather, to the time of the woman by his side.
Still, despite this new point of view and despite having real-life couple Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix as Mary and Jesus, Davis’s “Mary Magdalene“ made almost no impact on critics and audiences, Biblical or otherwise. Yet, at the least, it was received better than Davis’s next movie, “Foe,“ which was the first film he wrote himself and still couldn’t get the likes of Saoirse Ronan, Paul Mescal, and Aaron Pierre to save it.
Benh Zeitlin: Followed “Beasts Of The Southern Wild“ With “Wendy”
Zeitlin made one of the biggest surprise success stories of 2012, as “Beasts of the Southern Wild“ stunned with not only a Best Picture nomination but Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay nominations for Zeitlin as well. As such, it made it a long wait for Zeitlin to get his next movie together, which ultimately turned out to have a similar idea to Davis’s second movie – in retelling an often-told story entirely through its leading female character’s point of view.
Yet “Wendy“ also came and went with a mere blip, and not just because it came during the pandemic and lacked Disney or big studio backing for this particular Peter Pan story. The same idea to tell a personal and often fantastical story through the eyes of a unique young girl didn’t land for adults like “Beasts of the Southern Wild“ did, regardless of the much different climate it was released in. In any case, another years-long wait for whatever else Zeitlin might have next is all that’s come around since.
As “Materialists“ opens this weekend, Celine Song steps into a space filled with both promise and peril, a cinematic crossroads where some directors have soared while others stumbled hard when it comes to the Academy’s reception. If history is any indication, a strong directorial debut is no guarantee of continued awards success, critical acclaim, or even audience connection the second time around. Whether Song follows in the Oscar footsteps of Bradley Cooper with another awards player or not, we will closely watch where her career goes from here.
Have you seen “Materialists” yet? If so, what did you think of it? Do you think it will be nominated for Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards? If so, which awards? Please let us know in the comments section below and on Next Best Picture’s X account.
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