Martin Scorsese surpasses Steven Spielberg as the living director with most Oscar noms

Martin Scorsese has surpassed Steven Spielberg to set an impressive Oscar record.

The Killers of the Flower Moon filmmaker earned his 10th nomination for Best Director on Tuesday, making him the most-nominated living director. Scorsese scored his first nom in 1980 for Raging Bull, and he’s since been nominated for The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Hugo, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Irishman, and now Killers of the Flower Moon. (The Departed remains his only win in the category.)

Scorsese’s 10 nominations make him the second most-nominated director of all time, behind only William Wyler (who holds the record with 12 nominations and died in 1981). Meanwhile, Spielberg is in third place with nine nominations, stretching from 1977’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind to 2022’s The Fabelmans. He’s won the category twice, for Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan.

Scorsese directed Killers of the Flower Moon based on David Grann’s book, which explores how white people in 1920s Oklahoma targeted and systematically murdered members of the Osage nation in an attempt to steal their valuable oil headrights. In an interview with EW, Scorsese opened up about bringing the Osage Reign of Terror to the screen and why he wanted to appear on screen for a fourth-wall-breaking cameo in the film’s final moments.  

“One of the things we were discussing was the fact that for God’s sake, after everything, it becomes entertainment,” Scorsese said in November. “And you can say, well, this film becomes entertainment too, in which case then we have to take the responsibility. We hope that it’s entertainment with some depth and enrichment that maybe can approach some kind of truth.”

Killers of the Flower Moon scored 10 Oscar nominations in all, including Best Picture, Best Actress for Lily Gladstone, and Best Supporting Actor for Robert De Niro.

The 96th Academy Awards will air on Sunday, March 10, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on ABC. See the full list of 2024 Oscar nominations.

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