Spielberg, Scott & Eastwood Are Sprinting Towards The Oscar Race

​By Daniel Howat

​Every year, come the end of December, Oscar season gets a few last minute entries trying to shake up the race. Some are more successful than others. Just last year we saw "Hidden Figures" released on Christmas Day, which snagged multiple nominations including Best Picture. Ben Affleck attempted this as well with "Live By Night," with a limited release in December. He didn't see any nominations though, and received the worst reviews of his directing career. This year, three legends are all racing to the finish line. Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, and Ridley Scott all began filming movies earlier this year, and all plan to rush them to release for awards season.

​For Clint Eastwood, this is nothing new. He's always been known to be quick with production, often finishing his movies with a short production schedule and quick release. It paid off handsomely with "Million Dollar Baby" in 2004, which won Eastwood his second Best Picture and Director Oscars. Now he's currently filming "The 15:17 to Paris," based on the attempted train terrorist attack that was thwarted by friends in 2015. Interestingly, Eastwood cast the actual heroes from the attack to portray themselves. The film was only announced in April, began filming weeks ago, and is already nearing completion. According to Variety, Warner Bros. hopes to have it ready and released this December.

Steven Spielberg just wrapped his epic blockbuster adaptation of "Ready Player One" earlier this year, which won't be released until March 30th, 2018, but he immediately went into production on his next film, "The Papers." This is certainly the definition of Oscar bait. It stars Tom Hanks and Meryl Steep (Among a slew of other talents), and covers a very timely political issue, freedom of the press. The movie filmed this summer, and is set for limited release on December 22nd. It's already leading in many Oscar prognosticators' predictions for Best Picture, sitting at the number one spot on Gold Derby. Like Eastwood, Spielberg is already sitting on two Best Director Oscars, and could be lining up a third.

Unlike those filmmakers, Ridley Scott has yet to win Best Director at the Academy Awards (Though "Gladiator," which Scott directed, did win Best Picture). This year, Fox has already scheduled Scott's "All The Money In The World" for December 8th. The movie, about the kidnapping of 16-year-old John Paul Getty III in 1973, stars Michelle Williams, Kevin Stacey, and Mark Wahlberg, only just recently wrapped production, but is wasting now time getting into the editing room.

All three directors, despite their long careers, aren't slowing down anytime soon, still earning Oscar nominations for their work. Scott most recently had "The Martian," nominated for seven Oscars, Spielberg had "Bridge of Spies," nominated for six, and Eastwood had "American Sniper," also with six nominations. The 2017 awards season is getting underway, so it won't be too long to see which of these films, if any, can speed their way in and disrupt the race.

Which of these films do you think will be a major Oscar contender? Will rushing these films to theaters hurt their chances? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

You can follow Daniel and hear more of his thoughts on the Oscars and Film on Twitter at @howatdk