Decades of Best Picture Directors Quiz

Answer: Bong Joon-ho

This brutal dystopian horror/comedy blend really put South Korean films on the map for a lot of people: it was the first film to win Best Picture that did not include any spoken English. It was also the first South Korean film to win the Palme D'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival. Bong Joon-ho directed this 2019 release, depicting a devastatingly impassable gulf of inequality between rich and poor South Korean families, laden with detail and metaphor.

Answer: William A. Wellman

Ahh, the very first Best Picture winner of all, a 1927 American release. This silent war film starred Clara Bow, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers and Richard Arlen and was the only silent film to win Best Picture for a long time (2011's winner, 'The Artist', was mostly silent). That's somehow apt: the ending of the production of silent films and the notion of movies with sound being a 'fad' were actually themes within the movie itself.

It also won the award for Best Engineering Effects. Wellman also later won the Best Story Oscar for 'A Star is Born'.

Answer: Wesley Ruggles

'Cimarron' was the first Western to win an Oscar, and the only one for 59 years, when 'Dances With Wolves' would break that streak in 1990. It was the first film to score a nomination for the five major categories: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Screenplay (or Writing).

However, despite that success, it failed to turn a profit in its original run at the box office: its budget was $1.43m and lost $565,000. Some of the losses were recouped when the film was re-released.

The director, Wesley Ruggles, had directed over fifty films before achieving success with this title.

Answer: William Friedkin

At 36, Friedkin was one of the youngest directors at the time to win the Best Director Oscar, and he went on to win another Best Director Oscar two years later for 'The Exorcist'. A number of high profile actors turned down the chance to star in this film, including Steve McQueen of 'Bullitt' fame.

It's easy to ask 'what if', but in any case, Gene Hackman eventually was cast in the main role of Popeye Doyle without auditioning or screen testing. With his colleague, Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider), he attempted to intercept a heroin shipment from France.

In addition to Best Picture, it also won Best Actor (Gene Hackman), Best Director, Best Film Editing, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Answer: Danny Boyle

Danny Boyle directed this British film featuring Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), an 18-year-old Indian boy who starred on the Indian version of 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?'. His experiences with his childhood friends, of child crime and of destitution, all conveniently mapped with most of the answers, with a twist at the end.

It won eight Oscars, all in all, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. Boyle was also known for directing titles such as 'Trainspotting' and '127 Hours', and had the great honour of directing the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics in London.

Answer: Steven Spielberg

This heart-tugging historical drama was based on the true story of businessman Oskar Schindler and his rescue of over a thousand Jewish people during the Holocaust period. Many of the clothes worn by the extras were actually supplied by people who still owned clothes from the 1930s and '40s.

It was a box office success, earning $322m on a $22m budget. It was critically acclaimed, and also won seven Oscars (including Best Picture) with a total of twelve nominations. Spielberg also co-produced the film: he had originally offered the director job to Roman Polanski who reputedly turned it down as, at the time, it was too personal a topic for him.

Answer: Robert Redford

Robert Redford put on his directing cap for the first time with this film of grief where the death of a son and brother threatened to tear an affluent family apart. The similarly titled book it was based on was among one of the most regularly banned books from American school libraries, due to vulgar language, depressing and disturbing themes, and, well, a sex scene.

It won four Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor (Timothy Hutton).

Answer: Leo McCarey

Leo McCarey won Best Director as well as Best Story here; 'Duck Soup' was another well-known title from this director. This warm-spirited comedy-drama film featured Charles O'Malley (Bing Crosby), a priest who embraced modernity to salvage a financially failing church in more ways than one. Curiously, Barry Fitzgerald - who played the conservative priest O'Malley had to win over - was nominated for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. Crosby won the Best Actor bid. Bing Crosby also won Best Song, singing a cover of Jimmy Van Heusen's 'Swinging on a Star'.

Answer: Cecil B. DeMille

Cecil B. DeMille had a directing career lasting over four decades. He actually received an Honorary Oscar in 1950 for 37 years of showmanship before his films had secured any Oscars themselves: it was his last productions, 'The Greatest Show on Earth' and 'The Ten Commandments', that received Best Picture nominations.

This lavish drama brought the big top to the big screen, supported by the actual troupe of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus. Several big names of the day starred in this box office success: Betty Hutton, Charlton Heston, James Stewart, and Dorothy Lamour, to name a few. Though deMille was nominated for Best Director, it won just two Oscars for Best Picture and Best Story. Its Best Picture victory over popular favourites such as 'High Noon' and 'Singin' in the Rain' has been a sore point for some fans of those movies over the years.

Answer: John Schlesinger

Far from being a Western movie, this movie was instead all about the hustle. Dustin Hoffman's inclusion in the movie was unusual in some respects - the movie was a bit of a punt, it was a 'dirtier' role than Hoffman had played in 'The Graduate', and director John Schlesinger needed a little extra convincing himself that Hoffman was right for the role. Schlesinger was amused and enticed when Hoffman reportedly dressed up as a beggar, blending in in Manhattan where they were due to meet. 'Midnight Cowboy' won three Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay (though Hoffman did get a Best Actor nomination for his dues).