Oscar can be fickle. At a ceremony in 2010, Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to take home the Academy Award for Best Director, for 2008's "The Hurt Locker." However, she was not nominated for the prize for this year's Oscars, which will be handed out next week in California.

The film she directed, "Zero Dark Thirty," is nominated, but has faced some troubles with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It has been reported that various academy members have been urging people to vote against the movie.

The 61-year-old director has declined to elaborate on why she thinks she wasn't nominated for helming arguably the year's most influential film. "Zero Dark Thirty" is about the hunt for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, who was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs in 2011. It stars actress Jessica Chastain as Maya, a fiercely obsessed CIA operative tracking down bin Laden. Chastain, 35, has been nominated for best actress at the upcoming Oscars.