As the Internet mulls over the whitest Oscars in 17 years, the subject of snubs and/or flubs gets brought up over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. So let’s look at one of the best: a video of “Steve” Spielberg watching the televised announcement of nominees for the 1976 Academy Awards, wherein he does not get nominated for Best Director. It’s a legendary video, not just because it captures a young Spielberg in a childish state of petulant disappointment (“I lost to Fellini…”), but because Joe Spinell, star of Maniac is there trying to cheer him up for some reason (and in a Jaws t-shirt, no less). Spinell is incredible, asking the practical question, “who directed the movie, the shark?!”
So as you lament Morten Tyldum’s nomination for Best Director over, say, Ava DuVernay or David Fincher (or Paul Thomas Anderson, or…), hold this moment in your heart and remember that while everybody loves a winner, nobody loves a WINNER.