Jane Campion Becomes First Female Director With Two Nominations

The Oscars are almost here. Viewers are gearing up to see their favorite films battle for the Academy Awards in a ceremony that holds at the Dolby theatre later in March. While fans anticipate the prestigious events, a look at the list of nominees reveals new records have and will be set for the first time.

While there are male directors with multiple Best Director nominations throughout their careers, for the first time, a female director broke the cycle by earning a second nomination for the acclaimed category. Jane Campion's film "The Power of the Dog" earned her a second nomination for best director, officially making oscar history.

Read on for more details.

The legendary director has earned a spot in the best director category in this year's Oscars. The New Zealand-born's feat comes with spice as she makes Oscar history.

Campion has become the first female filmmaker to have two career nominations in the best director category during her career. The director landed a place on this year's list for her Netflix psychological drama film "The Power of the Dog."

In retrospect, Campion achieved her first best director Oscar nomination almost two decades. Her movie "The Piano" garnered enough critical acclaim to earn a spot among a tough list of other competitors. Although she eventually lost the award to Robert Zemeckis's "Forrest Gump," the filmmaker salved the loss by winning the original screenplay category.

"Power Of The Dog" has already clinched the directing award at last year's Venice Film Festival alongside other award nominations, which increases the probability of Campion winning the Oscars award.

Campion's work on "The Power of the Dog" was inspired by the 1967 Thomas Savage novel that bore the same appellative. The brooding gothic melodrama portrayed the life of a ruthless rancher who is displeased with his brother's new wife and her son and proceeds to taunt them in menacing ways.

"The Power of the Dog" further etches Campion's spot in the hallowed list of female Oscar nominees for the best director award. The list has seven women – Lina Wertmüller, Campion Sofia Coppola, Kathryn Bigelow, Greta Gerwig, Chloé Zhao, and Emerald Fennell.

Bigelow and Zhao won their categories at the time. Looking at the critical acclaim "The Power of the Dog" has garnered, Campion is poised to earn the third spot on the Oscar's best female director winners record.

In an interview with Variety, Campion reacted to earning a Best Director nomination spot for the 2022 Oscars. The filmmaker admitted that hearing the news brought her great joy. However, she also opined that such an event should not be a rare occurrence and was glad that the current clime in the industry is favoring women.

"I've been in the industry a long time now, and it's very different today than it was when I first started," Campion said to the news outlet.

"The brave women from the #MeToo movement that began it all with their revelations about the systemic abuse within the industry has woken everybody up and committed people, men, and women, to wanting equality. We're not there yet, but I would say that it's the end of apartheid for the industry when it comes to gender."

"The Power of the Dog" featured several Hollywood stars as cast members. Actors like Benedict Cumberbatch, Kristen Dunst, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Jesse Plemons all delivered enthralling performances in the psychological drama.

Unsurprisingly, the quartet of actors has ensured that the film is in the run for other categories apart from the best director spot. The best actor has Cumberbatch, the best-supporting actress for Kristen Dunst, and the best supporting actor for Smit-McPhee and Plemons.

The film will compete on four other fronts - best picture, adapted screenplay, editing, score, and cinematography. Ari Wegner, the director of photography for "The Power Of The Dog," made Oscar history by becoming the second female to land a spot in the cinematography category.