A Look At The Amazing Film Career Of Martin Scorsese
November 17th marks the 80th birthday of one of filmmaking’s greatest scions – Martin Scorsese. The legendary director, who made his first feature film in 1967 titled Who’s That Knocking at My Door (originally titled I Call First), has made 25 films so far, with his 26th, Killers of the Flower Moon, set to release next year. So, in honour of the master director’s 80th birthday, we take a look at his impressive career, including his Oscars nominations and wins.
An Illustrative Career
As mentioned above, Scorsese has made 25 films so far, almost all of which have garnered critical acclaim and widespread appreciation. The first thing you notice when you take a look at his filmography is just how diverse it is.
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His most popular films include Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, The Departed, The Wolf of Wall Street, and The Irishman. Despite his reputation as someone who makes films about mobs and gangsters, Scorsese has actually dabbled in quite a few interesting genres and stories.
For instance, The Last Temptation of Christ and Silence are centered on religion and Christianity, Shutter Island is a neo-noir psychological thriller that marked a significant departure from his earlier works, and the Age of Innocence is a period-drama based on the popular 1920 novel. Kundan, based on the life of the Dalai Lama, and The Aviator, a biopic of Howard Hughes, are other popular films where Scorsese did something different.
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How Many Oscars Does Scorsese Have?
It might be hard to believe this, but Scorsese has won ONLY ONE Oscar in his illustrative career. In fact, it wasn’t until 2007, exactly 40 years after the premiere of his debut film, that Scorsese won his first Academy Award for directing The Departed.
While it is known that The Academy tends to be a bit reserved vis-à-vis handing out Oscars – Leonardo DiCaprio’s Oscar losses had famously become a meme fest – the fact that it took them 40 years to give Scorsese his first Oscar (and the fact that he only has one of them) is bewildering. The Academy hasn’t be shy about showering him with nominations though as he has been nominated a whopping 14 times. His nominations are actually spread across multiple categories, including Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Picture.
What’s Next For The Iconic Director?
Next year is going to be busy for Scorsese as well. He is all set to release his 26th directorial feature – Killers of the Flower Moon. The film, which is based on a 2017 best-selling book, covers the origin story of the FBI and the horrific 1920s Oklahoma murders that took place in the Osage Nation.
The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio (marking the actor’s sixth collaboration with the director), Jesse Plemons, Lily Gladstone, Robert De Niro, and Brendan Fraser. The film will be premiering on Netflix and has already acquired some Oscar buzz given its plot and cast.
Main and feature picture: Courtesy Martin Scorsese/@Instagram
