For which film was Kubrick first nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director?

Stanley Kubrick was first nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for Dr. Strangelove. The 1964 black comedy earned Kubrick his first nominations in several categories at the 37th Academy Awards, including Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Officially titled Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, the film satirizes Cold War nuclear strategy and the possibility of accidental global catastrophe. Peter Sellers plays three major roles, including the titular former Nazi scientist and presidential adviser, while Sterling Hayden and George C. Scott portray military figures driven by paranoia and extreme ideology.

Kubrick was nominated again for Best Director for 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, and Barry Lyndon. Although he eventually won an Oscar for visual effects for 2001, he never won the Best Director award. Spartacus was made earlier, but it did not bring him a Best Director Oscar nomination.