Jane Campion has the “Power of the Dog” behind her.
The 67-year-old cinematographer became just the third woman to win outstanding director at the Oscars when she did so Sunday night for “Power of the Dog,” the Benedict Cumberbatch-starring Netflix Western about a cruel ranch owner whose brother brings home a new wife and her son.
With her win, Campion beat out Kenneth Branagh (”Belfast”), Ryuske Hamaguchi (”Drive My Car”), Paul Thomas Anderson (”Licorice Pizza”) and Steven Spielberg (”West Side Story”).
“I love directing because it’s a deep dive into story, yet the task of manifesting a world can be overwhelming,” she said during her acceptance speech, thanking her actors, including Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Jesse Plemmons, and her crew.
Campion is also the first woman to earn two nominations in that category, following her 1994 nod for “The Piano.” She lost to Spielberg and “Schindler’s List.”
The only other women ever nominated in the best director category are Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”), Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”), Lina Wertmüller (“Seven Beauties”), Sofia Coppola (“Lost in Translation”), Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”) and Greta Gerwig (“Lady Bird”).
Bigelow and Zhao were the only winners until Campion’s Sunday score.
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