Awarded for Direction First awarded 1984 Official website VMA website Instituted 1984 | Country United States Last awarded 2016 Category of MTV Video Music Award | |
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The MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction in a Video is a craft award given to the artist, the artist's manager, and the director of the music video. In 2007, the award was briefly renamed Best Director, but it returned to its original name for the 2008 awards. The biggest winners are Spike Jonze and David Fincher with three wins each, although one of Jonze's wins is credited as the "Torrance Community Dance Group".
The most nominated director is David Fincher with eight nominations. Remarkably, seven of Fincher's nominations were achieved in a three-year span (1989–1991), as he was nominated a record three times in both 1989 and 1990. Fincher's latest nomination (and win) occurred over twenty years later in 2013 for his work on Justin Timberlake's "Suit & Tie." Closely following them is Francis Lawrence with six nominations. Hype Williams is the director with most nominations and no wins at five.
The performer whose videos have won the most awards is Madonna, whose videos have garnered three direction Moonmen. However, Eminem's videos have received the most nominations with seven.
Four performers have won a Moonman in this category for their work directing/co-directing their videos: George Michael ("Father Figure"), Beck ("The New Pollution"), Erykah Badu ("Honey"), and Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys ("Make Some Noise"). An additional six other performers have been nominated for their work co-directing/directing videos: Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliott, Christina Aguilera, Jared Leto (as Bartholomew Cubbins), Ryan Lewis, and Bruno Mars.