Martin Scorsese (‘Killers of the Flower Moon’) predicted to break Oscar tie with Steven Spielberg

Martin Scorsese is one of the greatest movie makers of all time, with titles such as “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull,” “Goodfellas,” and “The Irishman.”  The Academy Awards think that highly of him, too. Scorsese has reaped nine Best Director nominations. That tally ties him with Steven Spielberg. Here’s the breakdown of Best Director bids for both of them:

Scorsese:

• “Raging Bull” in 1981 — lost to Robert Redford for “Ordinary People.”
• “The Last Temptation of Christ” in 1989 — lost to Barry Levinson for “Rain Man.”
• “Goodfellas” in 1991 — lost to Kevin Costner for “Dances With Wolves.”
• “Gangs of New York” in 2003 — lost to Roman Polanski for “The Pianist.”
• “The Aviator” in 2005 — lost to Clint Eastwood for “Million Dollar Baby.”
• “The Departed” in 2007 — WON.
• “Hugo” in 2012 — lost to Michel Hazanavicius for “The Artist.”
• “The Wolf of Wall Street” in 2014 — lost to Alfonso Cuarón for “Gravity.”
• “The Irishman” in 2020 — lost to Bong Joon Ho for “Parasite.”

Spielberg:

• “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” in 1978 — lost to Woody Allen for “Annie Hall.”
• “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark” in 1982 — lost to Warren Beatty for “Reds.”
• “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” in 1983 — lost to Richard Attenborough for “Gandhi.”
• “Schindler’s List” in 1994 — WON.
• “Saving Private Ryan” in 1999 — WON.
• “Munich” in 2006 — lost to Ang Lee for “Brokeback Mountain.”
• “Lincoln” in 2013 — lost to Ang Lee for “Life of Pi.”
• “West Side Story” in 2022 — lost to Jane Campion for “The Power of the Dog.”
• “The Fabelmans” in 2023 — lost to Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

Two pretty identical records. Both of them made their Academy Award breakthroughs within the same few years and they both had huge success in the ’80s and ’90s. While Scorsese had a better decade in the noughties, nominations-wise, both of them have made strong comebacks in recent times.

The only major difference is the wins. Spielberg prevailed twice while Scorsese has made it to the stage only once, which many deem to be one of their biggest Oscars grievances of all time (hey, at least Scorsese won one — the likes of Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick never did while Quentin Tarantino has only ever won for writing).

Scorsese is likely to move ahead of Spielberg with his upcoming epic “Killers of the Flower Moon.” The film tells the true story of the murders of several Osage tribe members in the 1920s in the USA, which sparked an FBI investigation involving none other than J. Edgar Hoover.

Scorsese’s longtime collaborators Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro star while last year’s Best Actor winner, Brendan Fraser, has a featured role. Currently, we predict that “Killers of the Flower Moon” will be nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor for DiCaprio, Best Supporting Actor for De Niro, Best Supporting Actress for Lily Gladstone, Best Adapted Screenplay for Scorsese and Eric Roth, and, you guessed it, Best Director for Scorsese.

Our current predicted lineup for Best Director is Christopher Nolan for “Oppenheimer,” Scorsese for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Yorgos Lanthimos for “Poor Things,” Greta Gerwig for “Barbie,” and Celine Song for “Past Lives.” So, we think that Scorsese will receive his 10th Best Director nomination with this new movie, putting him one clear of Spielberg and two behind the all-time recordholder William Wyler.

Wyler’s record:

• “Dodsworth” in 1937 — lost to Frank Capra for “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town.”
• “Wuthering Heights” in 1940 — lost to Victor Fleming for “Gone With the Wind.”
• “The Letter” in 1941 — lost to John Ford for “The Grapes of Wrath.”
• “The Little Foxes” in 1942 — lost to John Ford for “How Green Was My Valley.”
• “Mrs. Miniver” in 1943 — WON.
• “The Best Years of Our Lives” in 1947 — WON.
• “The Heiress” in 1950 — lost to Joseph L. Mankiewicz for “A Letter to Three Wives.”
• “Detective Story” in 1952 — lost to George Stevens for “A Place in the Sun.”
• “Roman Holiday” in 1954 — lost to Fred Zinnemann for “From Here to Eternity.”
• “Friendly Persuasion” in 1957 — lost to George Stevens for “Giant.”
• “Ben-Hur” in 1960 — WON.
• “The Collector” in 1966 — lost to Robert Wise for “The Sound of Music.”

We are currently predicting that Nolan will win his first Best Director Oscar (and first Oscar overall), with Scorsese in second place. If Scorsese were to win, though, he would move to two Best Director victories — tying him with the likes of Spielberg, Lee, Oliver Stone, Clint Eastwood, and Alejandro G. Iñárritu. Wyler and Capra won three Best Director awards apiece while the record holder is John Ford with four.

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