Best Director Oscar nominations: Steven Spielberg now tied with Martin Scorsese for second most

Steven Spielberg picked up his ninth Best Director Oscar nomination on Tuesday for “The Fabelmans,” and with it, he has also moved up the all-time nominees list. The two-time champ has now tied Martin Scorsese for the second most nominations behind William Wyler‘s record of 12.

The filmmaker’s first eight nominations were for “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977), “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981), “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” (1982), “Schindler’s List” (1993), “Saving Private Ryan” (1998), “Munich” (2005), “Lincoln” (2012) and “West Side Story” (2021), the last of which made Spielberg the first director to be nominated in six different decades. He won for “Schindler’s List” and “Saving Private Ryan,” and was previously tied with Billy Wilder with eight nominations.

SEE Full list of Oscar nominations

While Wyler holds the record for most nominations, he does not have the record for most wins. That belongs to John Ford, who took home four statuettes from five nominations (and is portrayed in “The Fabelmans” by David Lynch). Spielberg can tie Wyler and Frank Capra at three wins. He’s currently one of 18 people with two Best Director Oscars.

Spielberg is up against Martin McDonagh (“The Banshees of Inisherin”), Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”), Todd Field (“TÁR”) and Ruben Östlund (“Triangle of Sadness”). A three-time nominee on Tuesday, Spielberg also received bids for Best Picture as a producer on “The Fabelmans” and Best Original Screenplay, shared with co-writer Tony Kushner. The latter marks his first Oscar nomination for writing. “The Fabelmans” earned five nominations total.

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