Steven Spielberg has broken an Academy Award Record by becoming the first person to be nominated for Best Director across six decades. His latest nomination for West Side Story has not only earned the acclaimed director his latest Oscar nod, but also broke his longstanding tie with Martin Scorsese.

It was announced yesterday that legendary director Spielberg, known for classics like E.T.: The Extraterrestrial, Saving Private Ryan, and Catch Me If You Can has earned his 6th Best Director nomination from the Academy. Until the announcement Tuesday, Spielberg and fellow Wolf of Wall Street director Scorsese were tied as having earned the Best Director nomination 5 times across 5 decades. This announcement pushes Spielberg out ahead of Scorsese and breaks a new record.

RELATED: Dune Nabs 10 Oscar Nominations Including Best Picture

Spielberg has broken a record, becoming the first person in Oscar history to earn Best Director nominations across 6 decades. The most recent nomination is for Spielberg's film adaptation of West Side Story. Spielberg took a chance remaking the film, as the previous 1960s version is widely regarded as a Hollywood classic, but in typical Spielberg fashion, he adapted the material so well it has earned him an Oscar nomination and a new record. In his esteemed career, Spielberg has earned 11 Best Picture Oscar nominations and 8 alone in the Best Director category.

In his almost 50-year career, Spielberg has been a familiar face at the Academy Awards. He was first nominated for Best Director in 1978 for Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This nomination was quickly followed by another for Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, again in 1982 for E.T.: The Extraterrestrial, and yet another in 1985 for The Color Purple. While those nominations did not result in any wins, the filmmaker's work on Schindler's List would pay off and earn him 2 Academy Awards in 1993, Best Director and Best Picture. While Spielberg has continued to earn nominations from the Academy, his last Oscar win was in 1998 for the WWII drama, Saving Private Ryan, for which he earned Best Director.

While Spielberg is highly regarded and has the awards to prove his chops as a director, he will face heavy competition in the Best Director category this year. His fellow nominees include Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza), Kenneth Branagh (Belfast), Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog), and Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car).

The Academy Awards will air March 27, 2022, on ABC.

MORE: 9 Best Opening Movie Credits

Source: Entertainment Weekly