Martin Scorsese is, no doubt, one of the most snubbed filmmakers in the history of the Academy Awards. With sixteen nominations under his belt since 1980, he only won one for 2006’s The Departed.
Many fans are still puzzled as to why despite his top-quality films, the veteran director keeps coming home empty-handed, not to mention he is one of the industry’s pillars when it comes to cinema.
Martin Scorsese Fan Reveals The Truth Behind Director’s Perpetual Oscar Snub
Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon was a strong contender for the Oscars after receiving ten impressive nominations, including a Best Director and Best Picture nod. Unfortunately, it did not secure any win at the event, disappointing the cast, the crew, and the fans.
A fan from Twitter has a theory on why the Academy Awards keep snubbing the 81-year-old filmmaker:
“It’s because of his work making foreign films more accessible through the World Cinema Project.”
The World Cinema Project was founded by Scorsese in 2007 in hopes of restoring and preserving neglected films from around the world. The fan argued that Hollywood is not fond of movies that do not use English as the medium.
“Hollywood doesn’t like to acknowledge world cinema because it challenges the belief that they control what is ‘consumable’ and also the academy voters are predominantly old and white and don’t like to watch movies with minorities in languages they don’t speak. And Marty has always had a stellar track record on promoting and supporting world cinema.”
Scorsese won his first Oscar award for The Departed, which is known as his most commercialized film to date. In conclusion, the snub is most likely a subjective decision rather than a criticism of his work.
“Academy voters do not enjoy watching movies in languages they don’t speak and Scorsese has historically angered them because of his support for foreign films.”
Killers of the Flower Moon starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, and Robert De Niro shockingly bombed at the box office, only earning over $156 million against a production budget of $200 million.
Martin Scorsese Still Believes In The Power Of Cinema
With the monopolization of heavily commercialized content such as Marvel films and other massive franchise blockbusters, Martin Scorsese sees to it that cinema does not lose its essence (via Associated Press):
“I’m trying to keep alive the sense that cinema is an art form. The next generation may not see it that way because as children and younger people, they’re exposed to films that are wonderful entertainment, beautifully made, but are purely diversionary. I think cinema can enrich your life.”
The filmmaker’s latest Oscar snub has definitely become a hot topic of debate again in social media, and it will surely go down in history as the most upsetting of all given Scorsese’s legendary and lengthy career in the film business.
Killers of the Flower Moon is available to stream via Apple TV+.
