Thelma Schoonmaker thinks Martin Scorsese deserved to win 7 Best Director Oscars

“The 1981 Oscars ceremony was the worst night of my life,” laments the queen of editors.

Long-time collaborator of Martin Scorsese and Oscar-winning editor, Thelma Schoonmaker was devastated when the Academy failed to recognize the director’s work on Raging Bull. While she collaborated again with Scorsese on Killers of the Flower Moonshe remembers in an interview given to Esquire UK of the disappointment experienced during the 1981 Oscars ceremony.

“When we were at the ceremony, I was waiting for Marty to come back with an Oscar, but that didn’t happen. It was the worst night of my life. It was overwhelming that he won nothing“, confides the editor who was rewarded for her work on the film.

Indeed, that year, Robert Redford was the winner of the evening with the Oscars for best director and best film for People like the others.

“I think Marty would have liked to win for Raging Bull. A film like this, which is so brilliantly made. It was a difficult film to make. People like the others is a very good film, even if I haven’t seen it. But I think people were somewhat put off by the harshness of Raging Bull. But look what it has become, it’s a reference film.“

Martin Scorsese created a Letterboxd account to share his love of cinema

Schoonmaker and Scorsese will both end up being rewarded in 2006 for Infiltratorsalmost 40 years after their first collaboration on Who’s That Knocking at My Door (1967). The editor was also crowned for Aviatorand she regrets that Scorsese only received an Oscar.

“Yes, we haven’t had much luck with the Oscars. Marty deserved a lot. Marty should have won at least seven Oscars, in my opinion. But we are very unlucky at the Oscars, because the films are sometimes very unique. And people sometimes aren’t used to it, they resist movies and resist voting for them“

Martin Scorsese recently spoke to New Yorker on his victory in 2006 for Infiltratorswhich he categorizes as a total surprise:

“When the award was given, it completely surprised me. It was a different academy than where I started“

Thelma Schoonmaker will be able to console herself if Martin Scorsese wins the Oscar for best director for Killers of the Flower Moon. Answer on March 10 in Los Angeles.