With his 8th Oscar nomination for directing today, Steven Spielberg joins a very select group of four filmmakers who have received 8-plus Best Director nominations. They include Billy Wilder, who also has 8, his contemporary Martin Scorsese, who has 9, and the great William Wyler, who earned 11 total directing nominations.
If he wins this year, Spielberg has the chance to join Wyler, Frank Capra and John Ford as the only directors to take home three Oscars in the category. Ford also won a 4th.
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He’s one of only two living directors to have achieved the mark. It’s a historical fact likely not lost on a student of the medium like Spielberg.
Speaking of history, Spielberg also produced West Side Story and the film’s inclusion in that category marks his 11th such nomination. That’s a record for producers — at least since they started naming individual producers for Best Picture in 1951.
The list of those with the most Best Director nominations is as follows:
7 noms – David Lean, Fred Zinnemann, Woody Allen,
8 noms – Billy Wilder, Steven Spielberg
9 noms – Scorsese
12 noms – William Wyler
Spielberg was also nominated for a Golden Globe for West Side Story,
The original West Side Story was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won 10, including a Best Director trophy which was shared by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. It is the record holder of the most wins for a musical in Oscars history.
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