by Nathaniel
Spielberg & Scorsese just keep moving up Oscar's hall of fame
Since we did this with the Actresses and Actors, why not the Directors? Martin Scorsese added to his incredible record this season and Steven Spielberg did the same just last year, nudging Billy Wilder into fourth place. The Most Hallowed Directors Quartet is far more "current" than the Actor or Actress throne rooms as a result...
Please Note: Only directing nominations and wins were counted to form this list (many Oscar-loved directors also have nominations for producing or writing) and the minimum requirement to make the list was 3 nominations (only if you've won twice). We've also noted Honorary Oscars, Thalberg awards, and Special Achievement Oscars. How the ranks were determined and ties were broken is listed at the bottom of the post *
For fun and because it's interesting and no one ever shares it online we've listed how many films they directed were nominated/won for Best Picture. That's an interesting sidebar differentiating the director's branch enthusiasm from the overall Academy loves. One caveat: it's now much easier to score a Best Picture nod than it used to be which gives Scorsese and Spielberg (and other current directors) a huge statistical advantage. Spielberg is now tied with William Wyler for the 'non-official' stat of "most films they directed having landed Best Picture nominations" with 13 each (though they were often not the recipient of those particular nominations, since Picture nominations go to producers).
🔺 =indicates movement up in the past ten years (for film year 2015 and onward)
† = deceased so their stats won't change
OSCAR'S FOUR MASTERS
and 26 other obsessed-on auteurs
Scorsese, Wyler, Spielberg, Wilder
01 William Wyler † 12 noms | 3 wins | Thalberg | 13/3 BP
02 🔺 Steven Spielberg 9 noms | 2 wins | Thalberg | 13/1 BP
03 🔺 Martin Scorsese 10 noms | 1 win | 9/1 BP
04 Billy Wilder † 8 noms | 2 wins | Thalberg | 5/2 BP
MORE DIRECTORS-BRANCH BELOVED AUTEURS
Altman, Lean, Eastwood, Cukor, Coppola, Hitchcock
05 Fred Zinneman † 7 noms | 2 wins | 6/2 BP
06 David Lean † 7 noms | 2 wins | 4/2 BP
07 Frank Capra † 6 noms | 3 wins | 7/2 BP
08 John Ford † 5 noms | 4 wins | 8/1 BP
09 Woody Allen 7 noms | 1 win | 3/1 BP
10 Elia Kazan † 5 noms | 2 wins | Honorary | 4/2 BP
11 George Stevens † 5 noms | 2 win | Thalberg | 7/0 BP
12 George Cukor † 5 noms | 1 win | 8/1 BP
13 John Huston † 5 noms | 1 win | 4/0 BP
14 Clint Eastwood 4 noms | 2 wins | Thalberg | 5/2 BP
15 Frank Lloyd † 4 noms | 2 wins | 3/2 BP
16 Joseph L Mankiewicz † 4 noms | 2 wins | 4/1 BP
17 King Vidor † 5 noms | 0 wins | Honorary | 2 BP
18 Robert Altman † 5 noms | 0 wins | Honorary | 3/0 BP
19 Alfred Hitchcock † 5 noms | 0 wins | Thalberg | 3/1 BP
20 Clarence Brown † 5 noms | 0 wins | 2 BP
21 Francis Ford Coppola 4 noms | 1 win | Thalberg | 5/2 BP
OTHER ACADEMY FAVOURITES
Lee, Lumet, Kubrick, Nichols, Iñárritu, Weir
22 Michael Curtiz † 4 noms | 1 win | 6/1 BP
23 Mike Nichols † 4 noms | 1 win | 3/0 BP
24 Federico Fellini † 4 noms | 0 wins | Honorary | 0 BP
25 Sidney Lumet † 4 noms | 0 wins | Honorary | 4/0 BP
26 🔺 Peter Weir 4 noms | 0 wins | Honorary | 3/0 BP
27 🔺 Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu 3 noms | 2 wins | Special Achievement | 3/1 BP
28 Leo McCarey 3 noms | 2 wins | 5/1 BP
29 Ang Lee 3 noms | 2 wins | 4/0 BP
30 Oliver Stone 3 noms | 2 wins | 3/1 BP
31 Stanley Kubrick † 4 noms | 0 wins | 3/0 BP
BUBBLING UNDER? WHO WILL JOIN THE LIST NEXT?
Anderson, Nolan, Campion, Payne
THE REST IS A DISCUSSION PROMPT... NOT COMPREHENSIVE SO DON'T SAY WE MISSED SOMEONE!
Tantalizingly close to the list with 3 nominations and still working. Will they make it?
Joel & Ethan Coen* (one win for direction), 🔺 David Fincher, Alexander Payne, David O. Russell, 🔺 Paul Thomas Anderson
* now working separately and technically their first nomination for Director was only for Joel due to Oscar's now defunct 'solo' director rule
Two nominations. Will they have a third round?
🔺 Jane Campion (winner), 🔺 Chris Nolan (yes only two noms, one win), 🔺 Yorgos Lanthimos, 🔺 Adam McKay
Stuck at one but well loved. Will they ever be nominated again?
🔺 Greta Gerwig, 🔺 Guilermo Del Toro (winner), 🔺 Denis Villeneuve, Wes Anderson, Pedro Almodovar.
* HOW WERE THE RANKS DETERMINED? Number of nominations creates the initial order with wins, breaking any ties. Two wins equals a phantom extra nomination allowing them to jump up a rank (but not leapfrog someone who won a competitive Oscar. Honorary of Thalberg awards add a half a nomination to the tally, but they can only leapfrog someone with more nominations if they have more wins. If the stats are still tied after those things, the number of films they directed landing Best Picture nominations, breaks the tie. (Third and fourth wins are so rare --only three and one people have gone there, respectively-- that each occurence adds an extra whole phantom nomination to the initial tally though they cannot leapfrog people with multiple wins if its close which accounts for Frank Capra and John Ford's placements.)