19 Years Ago, This Legendary Director Finally Won An Oscar After More Than Two Decades

On this day, February 25, in 2007, Martin Scorsese finally won his first Academy Award.

The legendary director was first nominated in Best Director for Raging Bull back in 1981, and had received six further nominations in the decades that followed—but he'd never taken home the trophy. In 2007, the Academy finally rewarded him for his priceless contributions to cinema.

Martin Scorsese Finally Won His Oscar For 'The Departed'

The Departed was the project that finally pushed Scorsese to victory at the Oscars, which may film buffs may find surprising. The director's early movies like Taxi Driver, The King of Comedy, and Mean Streets didn't even land him nominations, while all-time classics like Goodfellas and Raging Bull were nominated but overlooked.

The Departed is rarely cited among Scorsese's greatest accomplishments, but it's still a very worthy project to carry the director to his first win. The film was nominated in five categories and took home four awards, with the only miss being Mark Wahlbergin Best Supporting Actor. It won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing.

The Departed centers around an undercover police officer trying to infiltrate a violent Irish gang, and a spy for that very same gang working inside the police department. Played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon respectively, the film sees them constantly attack each other from the shadows to stop themselves from being exposed in their undercover roles.

The film has everything you'd expect from a Martin Scorsese movie: layered, complex plot twists, deeply flawed characters, and fast-paced storytelling that keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat. It's easily one of his most accessible films, which is arguably why the Academy deemed it worthy to finally lead him to an Oscar win.

Scorsese has been nominated a further eight times since winning Best Director for The Departed, but has never won a second Oscar. Interestingly, he was nominated for the same two awards—Best Picture and Best Director—for his two previous movies, setting him up for an impressive record if he repeats this success with his next movie.