The surprising Oscar record held by Martin Scorsese
Whether you’re a fan of his work or not, very few can deny Martin Scorsese‘s status as one of cinema’s most influential figures. Having started his career in the 1960s, Scorsese has been honing his craft for decades, although it didn’t take him long to find success. With his third movie, Mean Streets, released in 1973, the filmmaker was praised for his writing and direction, singling him out as a promising figure in the New Hollywood movement.
However, his next film, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, was his first to receive Academy Award nominations, including a ‘Best Actress’ win for Ellen Burstyn. The movie also garnered award nominations from the Cannes Film Festival, the Golden Globes and the Baftas, winning four from the latter, including ‘Best Film’ for Scorsese.
1976’s Taxi Driver, meanwhile, was even more successful, earning the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Starring Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Jodie Foster and Cybill Shepherd, the movie received widespread praise and continues to be labelled one of the greatest films ever made. From its potent exploration of loneliness, trauma, urban decay and violence to its stunning cinematography and score, Taxi Driver elevated Scorsese’s reputation as one of the most influential directors of the 1970s.
Unfortunately, Scorsese wasn’t so lucky with his next project, New York, New York, which was a commercial and critical flop. Still, that didn’t prevent him from continuing onward, and his subsequent picture, Raging Bull, is now considered one of the best movies ever made. Marking yet another collaboration between Scorsese and Robert De Niro, the film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning two.
Despite the retrospective praise for his next two movies, The King of Comedy and After Hours, the Academy Awards failed to recognise Scorsese’s effort. However, every film the director has created since then has earned at least one Oscar nomination, with The Aviator and Hugo garnering the most with 11 each. The latter won the most Oscars out of all his films, with five, although none were for Scorsese himself.
Incredibly, despite his movies earning 91 total Academy Award nominations between them, Scorsese has only won one prize for himself – ‘Best Director’ for The Departed. Yet, Scorsese’s nine ‘Best Director’ nominations inadvertently won him another award – the Guinness World Record for ‘Most Oscar nominations for a director (living)’. The filmmaker was given the title in 2020 following the nomination of his film The Irishman, which marked his ninth Oscar nomination for ‘Best Director’.
Scorsese has received ‘Best Director’ nominations for Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Hugo, The Wolf of Wall Street, and The Irishman.
