The Academy’s strange contempt for Martin Scorsese is a well-established phenomenon; the famed director has, as of today’s announcement, been nominated for the Oscar for Best Director ten times, winning only for 2006’s The Departed (one of my favorite movies, and an Oscar Scorsese really did deserve, especially when considering the other nominees, but not his best work), and not for hall-of-fame level films like Goodfellas or Raging Bull.
His newest film, Killers of the Flower Moon, his best since 2013’s The Wolf of Wall Street, I’d argue, received a healthy ten nominations ranging from Best Picture to Lily Gladstone in the Best Actress category (an award she should win, though might lose to Emma Stone for the latter’s performance in Poor Things) to Rodrigo Prieto’s nomination for Best Cinematography. Given the strength of Oppenheimer in the pre-Oscars awards shows — it won the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Picture, the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and a host of regional contests’ trophies for top film of 2023 — Marty will likely be shut out in a situation not unlike the one he faced with The Irishman in 2019, for which he and his team were heavily nominated but left the Dolby Theatre empty-handed.
Comments