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Depending on who you are, the last year was either a brilliant year of a terrible year for film-making. It was a bad year if you made loud action films, but a good year if you made sensitive films about bumming.

Guess which category has more chance of winning the Best Director Oscar? That’s right – Michael Bay may as well leave the country next month, the Best Director Oscar is pretty much guaranteed to go to someone who makes films with morals and values and a disheartening ambivalence about pleasant viewing length.

We’ll start today with the first part of our Best Director Oscar betting odds coverage, by looking at the odds of Bennett Miller, Paul Haggis and Steven Spielberg. Oscars betting odds come with help from SportingOdds.com…

Bennett Miller – Bennett Miller directed Capote. If there’s one
thing that Hollywood likes, it’s films about films. And that’s more of
less what Capote is – the story of Truman Capote investigating a crime
scene that he turned into a best-selling book which was turned into a
movie. Tenuous, yes, but it’s better than saying ‘Hollywood likes films
where the lead character has a funny voice’, which we were close to
doing. Capote is Bennett Miller’s second film as a director – his first
was a film about a tour guide. So the guy seems to be on the up, but will he win
the Best Director Oscar? Not bleeding likely, according to these
betting odds. Current Best Director Oscar betting odds – 28/1

Paul Haggis – Paul Haggis directed Crash. Paul Haggis is something
of the golden boy of Hollywood. Everyone loved his script for Million
Dollar Baby – even if it was the most relentlessly bleak thing ever
written – and his first real shot at directing a movie seems to be
paying off, too. Crash is a tale of every single actor ever being
racist to each other and crying a lot, and it’s a front-runner to win the
Best Feature Oscar. Haggis has also been nominated for Best Director,
but his chances aren’t so hot here. Why this is, we don’t know. Maybe
it’s Hollywood snobbery against the man who also created Walker, Texas
Ranger. And quite right too. Current Best Director Oscar betting odds -
16/1

Steven Spielberg – Steven Spielberg directed Munich. Steven
Spielberg famously makes two types of films; the blockbusters that
everyone enjoys and the worthy, overlong ones that everyone pretends to
admire. Munich is the latter. And it’s pretty good, if exactly what
you’d expect from a worthy Spielberg film – it’s seven hours long and
very very serious indeed. And the bit at the end where the bloke is
having sex and shouting is absolutely something we can live without
ever seeing again. In a normal year, Steven Spielberg would probably
walk the Best Director Oscar. But this year, he’s an outsider. Current
Best Director Oscar betting odds – 14/1

That’s all for today – tomorrow we’ll be taking a look at the
betting odds for the other two Best Director Oscar nominees. But in the
meantime, head over to the Specials section of SportingOdds.com to see
the full list of Oscars betting odds in all categories. And don’t
forget to place a bet while you’re there. It’s easy and fun and
SportingOdds.com will match your first bet when you open an account
with them. Good luck!

[story by Stuart Heritage]