Oscar frontrunners rarely escape awards season without a few broadsides, but those launched against Slumdog Millionaire in recent weeks have been particularly nasty, and with good reason. Slumdog v. Button (as in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) may be the most dramatic face-off in Oscar history; two films representing such diametrically opposed schools of filmmaking that the outcome could change the way “The Business” does business for years to come.

Indeed, the contrast could not be more pronounced. Both pictures tell fundamentally similar stories – the power of an undying love that endures through the decades – from opposing ends of the artistic spectrum. In one corner is the costliest of the five Best Picture nominees, the $150 million Button, 13 nominations, mega-stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, veteran mega-producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, adapted from a 1921 story by literary legend F. Scott Fitzgerald and backed by two – count ‘em, two – studios (Warner Bros. and Paramount). In the other corner is the field’s least costly picture, the $15 million Slumdog, 10 nominations, a cast of non-white unknowns, a little-known English producer (Christian Colson) with no producing credits until four years ago, adapted from a 2005 book by a first-time Indian novelist, released by an indie (Fox Searchlight) after its original studio financier (Warner Bros.) threatened to send it straight-to-DVD.

It would appear to be the consummate indie v. studio matchup.

Except that it’s not.

The real story here isn’t about the movies but their directors – David Fincher and Danny Boyle – both first-time Oscar nominees whose respective paths to this moment began, ironically, when each was given precisely the same career opportunity… a shot at directing the latest installment in 20th Century Fox’s Alien franchise.

In 1992, a young Fincher, hot off a career as a flashy music video director, received his big break when he was offered Alien3, a chance to follow on the heels of no less than Ridley Scott and James Cameron. Like his esteemed predecessors, Fincher took the job.

Five years later, Boyle – a hot English television director with landmark British indies Shallow Grave and Transpotting under his belt – was offered the fourth film in the series, Alien Resurrection. After serious consideration, Boyle shocked Hollywood and turned it down.

Both men have since experienced career ups and downs, but their respective Alien decisions have continued to resonate. From the quirky A Life Less Ordinary to the low-budget terror of 28 Days Later to the fable-like Millions and even the bigger-budgeted science fiction thriller Sunshine, Boyle’s films have remained resolutely personal and aesthetically challenging. Fincher, on the other hand, has forged a solid career as an expert big-budget craftsman, bringing style and mass market gravitas to otherwise hard-to-market studio productions like Seven, Fight Club, Panic Room and Zodiac.

Slumdog is Boyle’s eighth theatrically-released film. Button is Fincher’s seventh. Only two of Boyle’s films have cost more than $15 million. Only one of Fincher’s was less than $50 million. Fincher has never made a movie for under $30 million. Boyle has made five for under $20 million.

By traditional Hollywood standards, the pricey, star-studded, insider-produced Button should be the film to beat. In this year of change and economic uncertainty, however, those very attributes may prove its undoing, for the most common refrain heard from those who have seen both films is that Slumdog has heart while Button feels cold and manufactured. But what it really boils down to is risk, a sense that a film’s characters really are throwing caution to the wind for the sake of love, the very mentality Boyle embraced and Fincher eschewed all those years ago when the Alien franchise came calling. If Boyle’s characters ring true and Fincher’s seem hollow, it’s likely because only Boyle has lived the kind of life and taken the kinds of chances that would enable him to relate to them.

Not that Fincher should be concerned – he’s far too talented of a filmmaker to be shut out forever. His day will come. But this year belongs to Slumdog, and that’s bound to provide a sobering moment or two for the risk-averse bean-counters who have, for the better part of two decades, sought to eliminate any vestiges of uncertainty from the filmmaking process. It will confirm what Hollywood’s artists have long maintained in the face of corporate opposition, that the hearts and minds of audiences cannot be bought with big budget lucre, but must be won with originality, honesty and vision. It will prove, hopefully for the last time, that devoting unfathomable amounts of money and untold resources to minimizing even the least amount of risk is, in fact, the riskiest strategy of all.

Wade Major is a Film Critic for BOXOFFICE.com and a regular guest critic on NPR’s FilmWeek, heard Fridays in Los Angeles on KPCC, 89.3 FM.