Scorsese at the Oscars: The Complete Tally

by Cláudio Alves

With Killers of the Flower Moon still in theaters, conversation on the film has drifted from first impressions to Oscar prognostication. Amid these talks, Martin Scorsese's golden record has been heavily debated. Some say he's been severely under-rewarded, while others regard such talking points with disdain usually reserved for teenaged pop stans. Wherever you fall in this spectrum, knowing the director's exact Oscar stats will be helpful, if not enlightening. None of his short or documentary work has ever been recognized by AMPAS, and out of 25 narrative features, 17 have received at least one nomination – or 68%. Seven of those won an Oscar – or roughly 41% of his nominated work.

For a more in-depth analysis, let's consider the complete tally, sorted by category…

BEST PICTURE
Nine nominations, One win

1976) Michael Phillips & Julia Phillips, Taxi Driver
1980) Robert Chartoff & Irwin Winkler, Raging Bull
1990) Irwin Winkler, Goodfellas
2002) Alberto Grimaldi & Harvey Weinstein, Gangs of New York
2004) Michael Mann & Graham King, The Aviator
2006) Graham King, The Departed *WINNER*
2011) Graham King & Martin Scorsese, Hugo
2013) Leonardo DiCaprio, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Joey McFarland & Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street
2019) Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, Emma Tillinger Koskoff & Martin Scorsese, The Irishman

BEST DIRECTOR
Nine nominations, One win

1980) Raging Bull
1988) The Last Temptation of Christ
1990) Goodfellas
2002) Gangs of New York
2004) The Aviator
2006) The Departed *WINNER*
2011) Hugo
2013) The Wolf of Wall Street
2019) The Irishman

BEST ACTRESS
Two nominations, One win

1974) Ellen Burstyn, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore *WINNER*
1995) Sharon Stone, Casino

BEST ACTOR
Seven nominations, Two wins

1976) Robert De Niro, Taxi Driver
1980) Robert De Niro, Raging Bull *WINNER*
1986) Paul Newman, The Color of Money *WINNER*
1992) Robert De Niro, Cape Fear
2002) Daniel Day-Lewis, Gangs of New York
2004) Leonardo DiCaprio, The Aviator
2013) Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Eight nominations, One win

1974) Diane Ladd, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
1976) Jodie Foster, Taxi Driver
1980) Cathy Moriarty, Raging Bull
1986) Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, The Color of Money
1990) Lorraine Bracco, Goodfellas
1992) Juliette Lewis, Cape Fear
1993) Winona Ryder, The Age of Innocence
2004) Cate Blanchett, The Aviator *WINNER*

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Seven nominations, One win

1980) Joe Pesci, Raging Bull
1990) Joe Pesci, Goodfellas *WINNER*
2004) Alan Alda, The Aviator
2006) Mark Wahlberg, The Departed
2013) Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street
2019) Al Pacino, The Irishman
2019) Joe Pesci, The Irishman

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Three nominations, No wins

1974) Robert Getchell, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
2002) Jay Cocks, Kenneth Lonergan & Steven Zaillian, Gangs of New York
2004) John Logan, The Aviator

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Seven nominations, One win

1986) Richard Price, The Color of Money
1990) Nicholas Pileggi & Martin Scorsese, Goodfellas
1993) Jay Cocks & Martin Scorsese, The Age of Innocence
2006) William Monahan, The Departed *WINNER*
2011) John Logan, Hugo
2013) Terence Winter, The Wolf of Wall Street
2019) Steven Zaillian, The Irishman

BEST EDITING
Seven nominations, Three wins 

1980) Thelma Schoonmaker, Raging Bull *WINNER*
1990) Thelma Schoonmaker, Goodfellas
2002) Thelma Schoonmaker, Gangs of New York
2004) Thelma Schoonmaker, The Aviator *WINNER*
2006) Thelma Schoonmaker, The Departed *WINNER*
2011) Thelma Schoonmaker, Hugo
2019) Thelma Schoonmaker, The Irishman

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Seven nominations, Two wins 

1980) Michael Chapman, Raging Bull
1997) Roger Deakins, Kundun
2002) Michael Ballhaus, Gangs of New York
2004) Robert Richardson, The Aviator *WINNER*
2011) Robert Richardson, Hugo *WINNER*
2016) Rodrigo Prieto, Silence
2019) Rodrigo Prieto, The Irishman

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN/ART DIRECTION
Seven nominations, Two wins 

1986) Boris Leven & Karen O'Hara, The Color of Money
1993) Dante Ferretti & Robert J. Franco, The Age of Innocence
1997) Dante Ferretti & Francesca Lo Schiavo, Kundun
2002) Dante Ferretti & Francesca Lo Schiavo, Gangs of New York
2004) Dante Ferretti & Francesca Lo Schiavo, The Aviator *WINNER*
2011) Dante Ferretti & Francesca Lo Schiavo, Hugo *WINNER*
2019) Bob Shaw & Regina Graves, The Irishman

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Six nominations, Two wins

1993) Gabriella Pescucci, The Age of Innocence *WINNER*
1997) Dante Ferretti, Kundun
2002) Sandy Powell, Gangs of New York
2004) Sandy Powell, The Aviator *WINNER*
2011) Sandy Powell, Hugo
2019) Sandy Powell & Christopher Peterson, The Irishman

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Two nominations, One win 

2011) Robert Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossmann & Alex Henning, Hugo *WINNER*
2019) Pablo Helman, Leandro Estebecorena, Nelson Sepulveda & Stephane Grabli, The Irishman

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Four nominations, No wins 

1976) Bernard Herrmann, Taxi Driver
1993) Elmer Bernstein, The Age of Innocence
1997) Philip Glass, Kundun
2011) Howard Shore, Hugo

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
One nomination, No wins 

2002) Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton & Larry Mullen Jr. for "The Hands That Built America," Gangs of New York

BEST SOUND
Five nominations, Two wins 

1980) David J. Kimball, Les Lazarowitz, Donald O. Mitchell & Bill Nicholson, Raging Bull
2002) Tom Fleischman, Eugene Gearty & Ivan Sharrock, Gangs of New York
2004) Tom Fleischman & Petur Hliddal, The Aviator
2011) Tom Fleischman & John Midgley, Hugo (Mixing) *WINNER*
2011) Philip Stockton & Eugene Gearty, Hugo (Editing) *WINNER*

Here are some stray observations. Feel free to share your findings in the comments:

• Martin Scorsese is one of the few directors who have directed winning performances in all four acting categories. The others are Elia Kazan, Hal Ashby, and William Wyler. Maybe I should do a whole piece on this stat. Would you guys be interested in that?
• Of all the Oscar categories where live-action, English-language narrative features can be nominated, the only one Scorsese misses is Best Makeup & Hairstyling. However, one should note that Raging Bull came out the year before the category was finally implemented.
• No Scorsese film has ever won a music-related Oscar.
• In terms of wins, The Aviator and Hugo are his most awarded films, with five victories each.
• The Aviator and Hugo are also his most nominated movies, scoring in 11 categories.
• Though he's been criticized for a lack of female representation across his filmography, Supporting Actress is the acting category with the most nods out of Scorsese's filmography.
• Overall, Scorsese has directed ten actresses and nine actors to Oscar nominations.
• He has directed eleven performers to their first acting nominations.
• Despite directing three actors to multiple nominations, none of Scorsese's nominated actresses ever repeated for one of his films. This is partly due to the lack of women in the director's revolving actor roster. None of his nominated actresses ever worked with Scorsese again after that one project.
• Thelma Schoonmaker and Michael Kahn are tied for the title of most honored editor in the Academy's history. They both have three victories out of eight nominations. While all of Schoonmaker's honors came from Scorsese-directed films, only seven of Kahn's nods are for Steven Spielberg pictures. That makes the Scorsese-Schoonmaker duo the most successful director-editor pair in the annals of the Academy.
• It's interesting to note the presence of a couple other renowned directors on this list. Both Michael Mann and Kenneth Lonergan, nominated here as producer and screenwriter, have been recognized for their own directorial work.

All that remains is how Killers of the Flower Moon shakes up these numbers. If Schoonmaker gets another nod, she'll break her tie with Kahn, for example, while Prieto would become the first cinematographer to get three nominations from Scorsese films. Lily Gladstone would be only the third Best Actress nominee in the filmography. Robert De Niro could break his tie with Pesci and officially become the director's most nominated thespian. Alternatively, DiCaprio could join their ranks with three nods. After four decades of working with Scorsese, the late composer Robbie Robertson may score his first nomination. His wouldn't be the first posthumous honor for one of the director's films since Boris Leven's nomination for The Color of Money came after he died in 1986.

At this early point in the race, how do you think Killers of the Flower Moon will do on Oscar morning?

Comments

[John From]

Actually, William Monahan won Best Adapted Screenplay for The Departed.

[Cláudio Alves]

John From -- You're entirely right, and I don't know how that escaped me. Thank you so much for noticing so I can correct it.

[Mike in Canada]

Would love to read about Kazan, Ashby and Wyler - I'm always up for Wyler content.

I think Scorsese is historically under rewarded (so few noms in the 1900s), but recently over rewarded (rarely missing in the 2000s).

I hope Killers does well - it's my favorite of his films in quite a long time.

[Frank Zappa]

Never ceases to amaze me that his two big wins are for a remake. Would be even weirder if De Niro and Lewis had won for Cape Fear.

[Wae Mest]

THE AVIATOR also won five Oscars, so it's tied with HUGO.

I wouldn't nominate KILLERS for very much. Maybe Screenplay, maybe Production Design, although it's super crowded in the latter category this year.

[Wae Mest]

Scorsese is also the only director to have two films lose all 10 of their nominations, with GANGS OF NEW YORK and THE IRISHMAN.

[Jonathan]

Interestingly, Spielberg had never directed an acting winner until 2012 with Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln, and now with Rylance and DeBose, he's only a Lead Actress win away from achieving the same feat as Scorsese, Kazan, Wyler, and Ashby.

[Joe G.]

I like Scorsese's films, but just because his films have received a lot of nominations in the supporting actress category doesn't mean his problems with female representation are solved. Especially since most of those nominations fall into a few archetypes (girlfriend/wife, damsel), and since the academy has its own problems with the type of roles it nominates there (supportive wife in well liked male driven film). I think it's notable that he only has 2 nominations in the Best Actress category.

I do wish he had more interest in female-driven stories. I get that he doesn't, and his work has a lot to say about masculinities, but Alice is such a triumph that it would be interesting to see what him and the right actress could craft together.

[Mr Ripley79]

If the Wyler/Ashby/Kazan piece would contain lists count me in.

[Shmeebs]

Agreed, @Joe G. Women are criminally underrepresented in his filmography.

Imagine if Scorsese gave a plum leading role to a Meryl Streep? Or a Viola Davis?

According to my calculation, he's only had 1 film with a solo female lead (Alice). Of course there's Gladstone, and Stone, and Pfeiffer, but they're all secondary leads at best.

[charlea]

To the question about Killers of the Flower Moon at the Oscars, I think it’s going to do very well. I expect double digit nominations because…well, why not? It’s a heavy crafts movie so it’ll probably cake walk to: cinematography, score, makeup, costumes and production design. Plus, I think it’s got reserved slots for: picture, director, actress, supporting actor (even though DeNiro is a lead) and adapted screenplay. I really don’t think Leo gets nominated. That’s 10. Plus who knows, maybe it also gets sound. I don’t know if it has an eligible original song. And editing could be tough given the justified complaints about the running time. But then again The Return of the King won and talk about an overlong movie.

[TOM]

-For the ‘almost there’ Directors getting wins in all four acting categories:
Woody Allen needs a Best Actor, James Brooks needs a BSActress and Jonathon Demme needs a BSActor.
-If this year’s Best Actor category becomes too crowded, I’d almost expect Leonardo DiCaprio to get squeezed out.
-Still wish that Scorsese was rewarded Best Director for his rewarding deserved work for Goodfellas. Being rewarded for The Departed was just a ‘you deserved it for Goodfellas’ compensation. Anyone really bother rewatching Dances With Wolves or The Departed?

[jules]

"None of his nominated actresses ever worked with Scorsese again after that one project."

This is sad. I would have loved to see him give another plum role to Burstyn, Ladd, Lewis, or Foster. Of course, it's tough to see where they could fit into his filmography because, as so many posters note, he doesn't make a lot of room for women in his films.

[Luis Cabrera]

Well, at least Jodie Foster has been directed twice by him, she was also in "Alice doesn't live here anymore". 😏

[Fabio Freire]

In another universe, Michelle Pfeiffer got a best actress nomination for her work in "The Age of Innocence" (I would replace Debra Winger for her) and then she accepted work again with Scorsese in "Casino" (sadly, she turned down the part).