TOP-TIER CONTENDERS
- 1 Ridley Scott - The Counselor
- 2 Joel Coen & Ethan Coen - Inside Llewyn Davis
- 3 Martin Scorsese - The Wolf of Wall Street
- 4 Alfonso Cuaron - Gravity
- 5 George Clooney - The Monuments Men
- 6 Paul Greengrass - Captain Phillips
- 7 David O. Russell - American Hustle
- 8 Lee Daniels - The Butler
- 9 John Wells - August: Osage County
- 10 Richard Linklater - Before Midnight
- 11 Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave
- 12 Bennett Miller - Foxcatcher
- 13 Anton Corbijn - A Most Wanted Man
- 14 Jason Reitman - Labor Day
- 15 James Gray – The Immigrant
- 16 Alexander Payne - Nebraska
- 17 Scott Cooper – Out of the Furnace
- 18 Ryan Coogler - Fruitvale Station
- 19 Asghar Farhadi - The Past
- 20 Sarah Polley – Stories We Tell
ALSO IN CONTENTION
- 21 Spike Jonze - Her
- 22 John Lee Hancock - Saving Mr. Banks
- 23 Susanne Bier – Serena
- 24 Bill Condon - The Fifth Estate
- 25 Ned Benson – Malavita
- 26 Denis Villeneuve - Prisoners
- 27 Terry Gillam - The Zero Theorem
- 28 Justin Chadwick - Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
- 29 Spike Lee - Oldboy
- 30 Noah Baumbach - Frances Ha
- 31 Woody Allen - Blue Jasmine
- 32 Ron Howard - Rush
- 33 Brad Furman - Runner Runner
- 34 Jean-Marc Vallee - Dallas Buyers Club
- 35 Ben Stiller - The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
- 36 Neill Blomkamp - Elyisum
- 37 John Krokidas - Kill Your Darlings
- 38 Ned Benson - The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: His
- 39 Ned Benson - The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Hers
- 40 Nicolas Winding Refn - Only God Forgives
