February 2005 Archives

Tonight, at the 77th annual Academy Awards, Martin Scorsese joined the illustrious ranks of Robert Altman, Stanley Kubrick, Federico Fellini, Alfred Hitchcock, and Ingmar Bergman--impossibly influential film directors never honored by the Academy with a Best Director statue. Tonight, however, he set a new record, passing Alfred Hitchcock by for most nominations without a single award. "But surely he's had movies win for Best Picture" you say. Nope. Again, five nods, no trophies (Hitchcock at least got one of those). Scorsese's only got three more best picture misses to go before he knocks Mervyn LeRoy out of the "Batting Zero" title. He does however hold the third-place spot for movies with most nominations and no wins (for 2002's "Gangs of New York"). He's not even the Academy's biggest loser (though the Academy prefers the term "non-winner"). That dubious distinction goes to Kevin O'Connell who got passed by for the seventeenth time tonight for sound on Spider Man 2. "I'd like to thank the Academy..." for consigning one great film director after another to the world of cult classics. Thanks.