About
| Birth Name: | Martin Marcantonio Luciano Scorsese |
| Birth Notes: | 17 November 1942, Queens, New York, USA |
| Height: | 5' 4" |
| Nicknames: | Marty |
| Family: | * Helen Morris (22 July 1999 - present); 1 child * Isabella Rossellini (29 September 1979 - November 1982) (divorced) * Barbara De Fina (8 February 1985 - 1991) (divorced) * 'Laraine Marie Brennan' (15 May 1965 - ?) (divorced); 1 child * Julia Cameron (30 December 1975 - 1977) (divorced); 1 child |
| Biography: | After serious deliberations about entering the priesthood - he entered a seminary in 1956 - Martin Scorsese opted to channel his passions into film. He graduated from NYU as a film major in 1964. Catching the eye of producer Roger Corman with his 1960s student films (including co-editing Woodstock (1970)), Scorsese directed the gritty exploiter Boxcar Bertha (1972). Mean Streets (1973) followed in 1973 and provided the benchmarks for the Scorsese style: New York settings, loners struggling with inner demons, pointed-shoes rock-meets-opera soundtracks and unrelenting cathartic violence. "Mean Streets" also featured Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel, two actors who would help shape that style. After Scorsese directed Ellen Burstyn to a Best Actress Oscar in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), the trio was reunited for the dark journey of Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976). The film achieved additional notoriety five years after its release when Bickle's (De Niro) concern for a teenaged hooker played by Jodie Foster inspired John Hinckley 's assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan in 1981. After New York, New York (1977) (which one critic described as a wife-abuse musical) and The Last Waltz (1978), Scorsese released Raging Bull (1980) dedicated to his mentor Haig Manoogian. The biography of middleweight fighter Jake LaMotta earned two Oscars (Actor - DeNiro, Editing - Thelma Schoonmaker) and was later selected as the best film of the decade by U.S. critic gods Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. Scorsese then explored fans as pariah (The King of Comedy (1982)), dark-comic dreams (After Hours (1985)), and revisited pool shark Eddie Felson from The Hustler (1961) ( The Color of Money (1986) with Paul Newman ). Scorsese outraged some religious groups by attempting to portray a human son of God in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) before returning to more familiar territory with the Mafia in Goodfellas (1990). He followed with two films which were remakes, Cape Fear (1991) and The Age of Innocence (1993). Besides directing and co-writing, Scorsese has also acted. It's interesting to note he played the gunman at the finale of Mean Streets (1973) and the cab passenger planning to kill his wife in Taxi Driver (1976). He also had a role in Dreams (1990). |
Filmography
| 'Round Midnight (1986) as Goodley |
| A Decade Under the Influence (2003) as Himself |
| After Hours (1985) as Club Berlin Searchlight Operator |
| American Boy: A Profile of: Steven Prince (1978) as Himself |
| Gangs of New York (2002) as Wealthy Homeowner |
| Il mio viaggio in Italia (1999) as Host |
| Italianamerican (1974) as Himself |
| Lightning in a Bottle (2004) as Himself |
| No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005) as Himself |
| Shark Tale (2004) as Sykes |
| Shine a Light (2008) as Himself |
| Stones in Exile (2010) as Himself |
| Taxi Driver (1976) as Man in cab spying on his wife |
| The Age of Innocence (1993) as Photographer |
| The Aviator (2004) as Hell's Angels Projectionist/Man on Red Carpet |
| The Color of Money (1986) as Opening Voiceover |
| The Grifters (1990) as Opening Voice-over |
| The Last Waltz (1978) as Himself - Interviewer |
| After Hours (1985) |
| Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) |
| American Boy: A Profile of: Steven Prince (1978) |
| Cape Fear (1991) |
| Casino (1995) |
| Gangs of New York (2002) |
| Goodfellas (1990) |
| Il mio viaggio in Italia (1999) |
| Italianamerican (1974) |
| Kundun (1997) |
| No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005) |
| Shine a Light (2008) |
| Shutter Island (2010) |
| Taxi Driver (1976) |
| The Age of Innocence (1993) |
| The Aviator (2004) |
| The Color of Money (1986) |
| The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) |
| The Last Waltz (1978) |
| A Conversation with Gregory Peck (1999) as Himself |
| Anna Pavlova (1983) as Gatti-Cassaza |
| Beyond Wiseguys: Italian Americans & the Movies (2008) as Himself |
| Bienvenue à Cannes (2007) as Himself |
| Boxcar Bertha (1972) as Brothel Client |
| Brian De Palma, l'incorruptible (2002) as Himself |
| Bringing Out the Dead (1999) as Dispatcher |
| Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (2010) as Himself |
| Cannonball! (1976) as Mafioso |
| Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin (2003) as Himself |
| Dante Ferretti: Scenografo italiano (2010) as Himself |
| Dreams (1990) as Vincent Van Gogh |
| Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood (2003) as Himself |
| Edge of Outside (2006) as Himself |
| Everybody Just Stay Calm (1994) as Himself |
| François Girard en trois actes (2005) as Himself |
| Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts (2007) as Himself |
| Guilty by Suspicion (1991) as Joe Lesser |
| Hollywood Mavericks (1990) as Himself |
| Hollywood Uncensored (1987) as Himself |
| I Call First (1967) as Gangster |
| Il cineasta e il labirinto (2004) as Himself |
| Il pap'occhio (1980) as TV director |
| In the Company of Actors (2007) as Himself |
| Incompleto (2006) as Himself |
| Jonas in the Desert (1994) as Himself |
| Le mis popote (2006) as Himself |
| Les derniers révoltés d'Hollywood (2008) as Himself |
| Mardik: Baghdad to Hollywood (2008) as Himself |
| Mario Monicelli, l'artigiano di Viareggio (2001) as Himself |
| Martin Scorsese, l'émotion par la musique (2005) as Himself |
| Martin Scorsese: Back on the Block (1973) as Himself |
| Mean Streets (1973) as Jimmy Shorts |
| Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (2007) as Himself |
| Music for the Movies: Bernard Herrmann (1992) as Himself |
| New York Stories (1989) as Man Having Picture Taken with Lionel Dobie |
| One Vision (1998) as Himself |
| Picasso and Braque Go to the Movies (2008) as Himself |
| Quiz Show (1994) as Martin Rittenhome |
| Raging Bull (1980) as Barbizon Stagehand |
| Roberto Rossellini: Frammenti e battute (2000) as Himself |
| Roger Corman: Hollywood's Wild Angel (1978) as Himself |
| Search and Destroy (1995) as The Accountant |
| Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (2001) as Himself |
| Street Scenes (1970) as Interviewer |
| The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing (2004) as Himself |
| The Key to Reserva (2007) as Himself |
| The King of Comedy (1982) as TV Director |
| The Muse (1999) as Himself |
| The Race to Save 100 Years (1997) as Himself |
| The Song of the Little Road (2003) as Himself |
| The Typewriter, the Rifle & the Movie Camera (1996) as Himself |
| Untitled Roger Corman Documentary (2010) as Himself |
| Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick (1995) as Himself |
| Wiseguys and Beyond: Italian Americans and the Movies (2005) as Himself |
| With Friends Like These... (1998) as Himself |
| À la recherche de Kundun avec Martin Scorsese (1998) as Himself |
| A Letter to Elia (2010) |
| Boxcar Bertha (1972) |
| Bringing Out the Dead (1999) |
| Cache (2011) |
| Hugo Cabret (2011) |
| I Call First (1967) |
| I Heard You Paint Houses (2011) |
| It's Not Just You, Murray! (1964) |
| Living in the Material World: George Harrison (2011) |
| Made in Milan (1990) |
| Mean Streets (1973) |
| New York Stories (1989) |
| New York, New York (1977) |
| Raging Bull (1980) |
| Sinatra (2011) |
| Street Scenes (1970) |
| The Big Shave (1968) |
| The Departed (2006) |
| The Key to Reserva (2007) |
| The King of Comedy (1982) |
| The Last Duel (2009) |
| The Long Play (2011) |
| Untitled Airbus Documentary Project (2006) |
| Vesuvius VI (1959) |
| What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? (1963) |
Trivia
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* (19 December 1996) Listed as one of 50 people barred from entering Tibet. Disney clashed with Chinese officials over the film Kundun (1997), which Scorsese directed. * (1995) Awarded third annual John Huston Award for Artists Rights by the Artists Rights Foundation. * (1976) Presented with a special tribute at the 1976 Telluride Film Festival. It was presented by Michael Powell . * He is a longtime friend and was once a housemate of The Band's Robbie Robertson . He directed The Last Waltz (1978), the documentary of their supposedly last gig which Robertson produced. Robertson later produced the soundtrack for Scorsese's The Color of Money (1986). * Good friends with editor Thelma Schoonmaker & cinematographer Michael Ballhaus . Scorsese introduced Thelma to her husband Michael Powell and he often quotes Powell as an influence. * His name is pronounced "Scor-sez-see". * He directed Michael Jackson 's Bad (1987) (V) music video. The full length video runs 16 minutes and is in both black & white and color. It is usually shortened down to just the color segment for television. * He appears as attached to his pet white Bichon Frise Zoe as he was to his beloved parents - except Zoe is right beside Marty every day in the office. * (16 November 1999) Daughter Francesca Scorsese born. * John Woo dedicated his action film Dip huet seung hung (1989) ("The Killer") to Scorsese on a commentary he did for the movie's DVD. * Daughter Domenica Cameron-Scorsese with Julia Cameron. * Taught both Oliver Stone and Spike Lee at NYU. * Was at one point going to make a movie about the life of comedian Richard Pryor. * He was an altar boy at Old St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was used in his early films I Call First (1967) and Mean Streets (1973). Old St. Patrick's is also where the baptism scene in The Godfather (1972) took place. * Was at one point slated to direct Clockers (1995), but for reasons that are not entirely clear, handed the directing chores to his onetime NYU student Spike Lee, while staying on as producer. He was also at one point going to direct Little Shop of Horrors (1986) for David Geffen, with Steven Spielberg as the executive producer. He was ultimately uninvolved, but claims that he wanted to shoot the movie in 3-D. It no doubt would have been a loving homage to Roger Corman, for whom he directed Boxcar Bertha (1972). * He took a cameo in his film Taxi Driver (1976) (as a man about to kill his wife) only because the actor who was supposed to play the role was sick on the day the scene was to be shot. Says he is generally uncomfortable in front of the camera. * Has a dog named Silas. * Is the subject of the song "Martin Scorsese" by alternative band King Missile. * Father of actress Cathy Scorsese from his first marriage. * Is of Italian-Sicilian descent. * Has asthma. * Of the three films he's been trying to make since the mid-1970s, he has done two: The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and Gangs of New York (2002). The third film, a biopic of Dean Martin called "Dino", has been on hiatus at Warner Brothers since the late 1990s. Scorsese has a very specific all A-list cast in mind, probably why it has yet to be produced. He wants Tom Hanks to star as Martin, Jim Carrey to play Jerry Lewis , John Travolta to play Frank Sinatra, Hugh Grant to play Peter Lawford, and Adam Sandler to play Joey Bishop . * Was voted the 4th greatest director of all time by Entertainment Weekly, making him the only living person in the top 5 and the only working film director in the top 10 ('Ingmar Bergman' (qv) being retired as a filmmaker). * Appeared on "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (2000) as a shrill version of himself who comes to regret his decision to cast Larry David as a violent gangster in a movie after David repeatedly ruins the suit he needs to wear as the character. * Several characters in his films refer to the legendary (noir) actor John Garfield , star of the original The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), which is also mentioned. * He was one of three major directors to have been offered the opportunity to direct Schindler's List (1993) by producer Steven Spielberg, the other two being Roman Polanski and Billy Wilder. Scorsese thought a Jewish filmmaker should direct it; Polanski wasn't yet ready to deal with the painful subject (having lost his mother in the Holocaust); and Wilder (who was retired and who lost his mother and grandmother in the Holocaust) finally told Spielberg that he should do it himself. * Because so many of his actors win or are nominated for awards, actors are dying to work with him. The film With Friends Like These... (1998) pokes fun at this very real desire. * Both The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and Gangs of New York (2002) were personal passions of his that he had wanted to make since the 1970s. When he first starting considering them, Robert De Niro was in his mind to play the lead characters in both (Jesus Christ in "Temptation" and Bill Cutting in "Gangs"). De Niro ultimately turned down the part in "Temptation" and it was decided he was too old to play Cutting by the time that "Gangs" finally went into production. * He has famously collaborated with Robert De Niro in 8 films. Scorsese has said that his creative collaboration with De Niro is very deep and that they can often understand each other without even talking. Their collaboration has had many dry spells (including recently), but Scorsese says he shows almost every script he writes or considers directing to De Niro to see what the actor's thoughts on them are even when De Niro ultimately has no involvement the film. * Appeared in an "American Express" ad where he goes to pick up photos of his nephew's birthday party at a drug store, and then proceeds to nervously pick through what's wrong with each picture while trying to get the clueless photo-lab clerk's opinion on them. He proceeds to buy more film with an American Express card and calls the people on the pictures saying they need to reshoot. Scorsese says this funny ad is probably the closest he's come to accurately "playing" himself. * Apart from his legendary work as a filmmaker, he has been a vocal supporter of film preservation for almost three decades. His efforts to create a strong public awareness for the work of film archives include The Film Foundation, a non-profit organisation which he started together with other filmmakers. The Film Foundation regularly partners with the American film archives on the restoration of "lost" or endangered films. With this background he has agreed to serve as Honorary President of the Austrian Film Museum in Vienna. * Personally spurns the notion of the "director's cut" feeling that once a film has been completed, it should not be further altered in any way. * He lost three best director - and best picture - Oscars to leading-man actors turned directors: Robert Redford , Kevin Costner, and Clint Eastwood (Raging Bull (1980) lost to Redford's Ordinary People (1980); Goodfellas (1990) to Costner's Dances with Wolves (1990); The Aviator (2004) to Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby (2004)). On the only two occasions when he was Oscar-nominated as Best Director in years ending in zero, he was beaten by actors making their directorial debuts (Redford and Costner). * In 1975, he accepted the Oscar for "Best Actress in a Leading Role" on behalf of Ellen Burstyn, who wasn't present at the awards ceremony. She won for her performance in Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) * President of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1998. * Has mentioned that he thought Robert De Niro's best performance under his direction was as Rupert Pupkin in The King of Comedy (1982). * Ranked #3 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Greatest directors ever!" [2005] * His favorite films include: Citizen Kane (1941), The Red Shoes (1948) and Il gattopardo (1963) ("The Leopard"). * Was friend, protégé, and employee of actor-director John Cassavetes . * When asked where audiences would find the next Martin Scorsese, he said to look to Wes Anderson , the young director of Rushmore (1998). * Has directed, as of 2008, 6 biopics: Raging Bull (1980), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), Kundun (1997) and The Aviator (2004). * He received a Degree ad honorem in "Cinema, TV and Multimedia Production" from the University of Bologna on 26 November 2005. * Served as mentor to Georgia Lee and invited her to apprentice for Gangs of New York (2002) in Europe. * The 1912 American Mutoscope & Biograph Company short The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) heavily influenced Scorsese in the making of his own gangster films Goodfellas (1990), and Gangs of New York (2002). The film was picked by Scorcese for his 2005 tribute at Beaubourg, centre d'art et de culture Georges Pompidou (1977) in Paris, France. Biograph is the oldest movie company in America and in existence today, headed by producer/director Thomas R. Bond II. * Scorsese and Taxi Driver (1976) are, among others, named as inspiration for the Massive Attack debut "Blue Lines". * (November 2006) He signed a four-year, first-look deal to develop projects with studio executives of Paramount. * Shutter Island (2010) is the highest-grossing movie of his 40-year career ($294,772,842 world wide). * The Aviator (2004) was his first movie to gross over $100 million in the U.S. * He has worked with big names of music business: Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson (I)' and 'David Bowie . * Directed 17 different actors in Oscar nominated performances: Jodie Foster, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis , Cate Blanchett, Winona Ryder, Ellen Burstyn, Sharon Stone , Diane Ladd,'Cathy Moriarty' (qv), Juliette Lewis , Lorraine Bracco, Paul Newman , Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Alan Alda and Mark Wahlberg . (Burstyn, De Niro, Newman, Pesci and Blanchett won Oscars for their roles in one of Scorsese's movies). * When he won his Best Director Oscar for The Departed (2006), he received the award from legendary directors, George Lucas , Francis Ford Coppola, and Steven Spielberg. The four were part of the "New Hollywood" movement of the 1970s and combined have 9 Academy Awards and 38 Nominations. * As a teenager in the Bronx, Scorsese frequently rented Michael Powell 's The Tales of Hoffmann (1951) from a store that only had one copy of the reels. When it wasn't available the owner told him, "that Romero kid has it," referring to George A. Romero who was also a big fan of the film. Today, both directors cite the film as a major influence. * Says he was happy with the fact that it took so long for him to win Best Director, because if he had won it earlier, it would have affected his directing and films. * Recipient of the 2007 Kennedy Center Honors. Other recipients that year were Leon Fleisher, Steve Martin , Diana Ross , and Brian Wilson . * Says the only thing he regrets in his career is that he was only able to make The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) on a small budget although he imagined it to be a grand version. * Was originally going to direct The Honeymoon Killers (1969), but was replaced after a week of shooting. * Served as a guest critic on "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies" (1986) following the death of Gene Siskel'. The episode was "The Best Films of the 90s" in which 'Roger Ebert cited Scorsese's Goodfellas (1990) as one of the best films of the 90s (#3). Scorsese's full list of his favorite films of the 1990s: 10.) Tie: Malcolm X (1992) and Heat (1995), 9.) Fargo (1996), 8.) Crash (1996), 7.) Bottle Rocket (1994), 6.) Breaking the Waves (1996), 5.) Bad Lieutenant (1992), 4.) Eyes Wide Shut (1999), 3.) Duo sang (1994) ("A Borrowed Life"), 2.) The Thin Red Line (1998), 1.) Dao ma zei (1986) ("Horse Thief"). * He was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute in recognition of his outstanding contribution to film culture. * Resides in New York City. His production offices are located on W. 57th Street in Manhattan. * Attended Cardinal Hayes high school in the Bronx as a young man. Fellow alumni included George Carlin, George Dzundza, Regis Philbin and Jamal Mashburn. * Is a fan of the British Hammer Films series. * A huge fan of Fawlty Towers (1975). He describes the episode "The Germans" as "so tasteless, its hilarious.". * In the 5th edition of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (edited by Steven Jay Schneider), 7 of Scorsese's films are listed: Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1982), Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995) and The Departed (2006). * Haig Manoogian was Scorsese's mentor at NYU. He eventually produced Scorsese's first film (I Call First (1967)) and when he died in 1980, Scorsese dedicated Raging Bull (1980) to Manoogian. * Roger Ebert is a great admirer of Scorsese's work. 14 of Scorsese's films were given four stars by Ebert (Mean Streets (1973), Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), After Hours (1985), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990), The Age of Innocence (1993), Casino (1995), Kundun (1997), Bringing Out the Dead (1999), The Aviator (2004), The Departed (2006), Shine a Light (2008)), seven of his films are in Ebert's Great Movies list ("Mean Streets", "Taxi Driver", "Raging Bull", "After Hours", "The Last Temptation Of Christ", "Goodfellas", and "The Age of Innocence"), and Ebert has written an entire book of his reviews, interviews and essays on Scorsese's work simply titled "Scorsese By Ebert". * As of July 2010, five of his films are on the IMDb's Top 250 Films list: Goodfellas (1990), Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), The Departed (2006) and Casino (1995). * The first movie he saw in the cinema was 'Duel in the Sun', he was 4. * On 'Inside the Actors Studio' he said the directors that inspired him the most are John Cassavetes, Orson Welles, John Ford, Fedrico Fellini, Elia Kazan, Roberto Rossellini and Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger. * Other than his short films and documentaries, all his film from 1972 to 1990 were shot in Widescreen aspect ratio (1.85:1) and all his film form 1992 onward were shot in CinemaScope aspect ratio (2.35:1). * The death of Federico Fellini was very similar to his father's death. Bypass surgery, a stroke and then a coma. Scorsese also noted that they both lasted exactly the same days in the coma. |
Quotes
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* The only person who has the right attitude about boxing in the movies for me was Buster Keaton. * [on sports] Anything with a ball, no good. * Because of the movies I make, people get nervous, because they think of me as difficult and angry. I am difficult and angry, but they don't expect a sense of humor. And the only thing that gets me through is a sense of humor. * [on Raging Bull (1980)]: ['Robert De Niro' (qv)] wanted to make this film. Not me. I don't understand anything about boxing. For me, it's like a physical game of chess. * It seems to me that any sensible person must see that violence does not change the world and if it does, then only temporarily. * I think when you're young and have that first burst of energy and make five or six pictures in a row that tell the stories of all the things in life you want to say . . . well, maybe those are the films that should have won me the Oscar. When Taxi Driver (1976) was up for Best Picture, it got three other nominations: Best Actor ['Robert De Niro' (qv)], Best Supporting Actress ['Jodie Foster' (qv)] and Best Music. But the director and writer were overlooked. I was so disappointed, I said, "You know what? That's the way it's going to be". What was I going to do, go home and cry? * Basically, you make another movie, and another, and hopefully you feel good about every picture you make. And you say, "My name is on that. I did that. It's OK". But don't get me wrong, I still get excited by it all. That, I hope, will never disappear. * I think a lot of it has to do with the nature of the community. I've lived here in Los Angeles, but I'm more of a New Yorker, and the nature of my films is regarded as somewhat violent and the language is considered tough. As you grow older, you change. I make different films now. You don't make pictures for Oscars. * I'm in a different chapter of my life. As time goes by and I grow older, I find that I need to just be quiet and think. There have been periods when I've locked myself away for days, but now it's different - I'm married and we have a daughter who is in my office the whole time. * If I continue to make films about New York, they will probably be set in the past. The "new" New York I don't know much about. It's not that I'm against contemporary film. I'm open to it in general, but I find the new colors of the city, the new Times Square, kind of shocking. I guess I'm stuck in a time warp. * It probably is better I didn't win in the '70s or mid-'80s or something. My view on making films is somewhat different in a way, and I think maybe it's something that . . . I was not able to handle at the time . . . Had I gotten an Oscar, maybe I would have gotten maybe an extra two days shooting, maybe a couple, you know what I'm saying? * I prefer celluloid - there's no doubt about it. Yet I know that if I was starting to make movies now, as a young person, if I could get my hands on a DV camera, I probably would have started that way . . . There's no doubt I'm an older advocate of pure celluloid, but ultimately I see it going by the wayside, except in museums, and even then it could be a problem. * My whole life has been movies and religion. That's it. Nothing else. * There is no such thing as pointless violence. "City of God" [Cidade de Deus (2002)], is that pointless violence? It's reality, it's real life, it has to do with the human condition. Being involved in Christianity and Catholicism when I was very young, you have that innocence, the teachings of Christ. Deep down you want to think that people are really good - but the reality outweighs that. * I'm a lapsed Catholic. But I am Roman Catholic - there's no way out of it. * [on the Iraq war] One hopes that this kind of war can be done diplomatically, with intelligence rather than wiping out a lot of innocent civilians. * [on "political correctness] You can hardly say anything about minorities now. It has made it extremely difficult to open your mouth. * [on the Iraq war] There are a lot of Americans who also feel that a lot of this war talk is economic, part of this has to do with the oil. I think it really has to come down to respecting how other people live. There's got to be ways this can be worked out diplomatically, there simply has to be. * What does it take to be a filmmaker in Hollywood? Even today I still wonder what it takes to be a professional or even an artist in Hollywood. How do you survive the constant tug of war between personal expression and commercial imperatives? What is the price you pay to work in Hollywood? Do you end up with a split personality? Do you make one movie for them, one for yourself? * Cinema is a matter of what's in the frame and what's out. * [onstage at the 2007 Oscars after winning for Best Director] Could you double-check the envelope . . . ? * About The Departed (2006): It's the only movie of mine with a plot. * On Robert De Niro: And even now I still know of nobody who can surprise me on the screen the way he does -- and did then. No actor comes to mind who can provide such power and excitement. * On working with Liza Minnelli on New York, New York (1977): After 15 minutes I realized that not only could she sing she could be one hell of an actress. She's so malleable and inventive. And fun, even when things are hard. * On Stanley Kubrick : One of his films... is equivalent to 10 of somebody else's. * On Stanley Kubrick : Why does something stay with you for so many years? It's really a person with a very powerful storytelling ability. A talent... a genius, who could create a solid rock image that has conviction. * But once Haig Manoogian started talking about film, I realized that I could put that passion into movies, and then I realized that the Catholic vocation was, in a sense, through the screen for me * On Kathryn Bigelow: I've always been a fan of hers, over the years. (Her film) Blue Steel (1989). She's good, she's really good. * It's hilarious, the problems that arise when you're on the set. It's really funny because you make a complete fool of yourself. I think I know how to use dissolves, the grammar of cinema. But there's only one place for the camera. That's the right place. Where is the right place? I don't know. You get there somehow. * I can't take shooting any scene for granted. I just can't. The moment I do that, I have no idea what I'm doing. "Oh, that'll be easy, I'll do that in five minutes." Believe me, that never happens. * On Robert De Niro: I've come to know De Niro fairly well down the years. He's a very compassionate man. He's basically a very good man and you can see that in him. So he can take on characters that are pretty disturbing and make them human because of that compassion. It's taken me years to figure it out. He has an ability to make audiences feel empathy for very difficult characters because there is something very decent in him. * On Akira Kurosawa: His influence on filmmakers throughout the entire world is so profound as to be almost incomparable, * On Akira Kurosawa: The term 'giant' is used too often to describe artists. But in the case of Akira Kurosawa, we have one of the rare instances where the term fits. * On Leonardo DiCaprio: Leo has a similar sensibility to me. I'm 30 years older than him, but I think we see the world the same way, meaning he feels comfortable with the characters I've dealt with over the years in movies. But also with Leo it's always an interesting process of discovery. And I don't say that in a facile way either, because we never know what that process is going to be, and it's always intimidating at first. And then Leo really gets into it and we start unravelling all these layers. With Shutter Island (2010) the story really lent itself to that. * When I did The Age of Innocence (1993), the critics said, "Is it wrong to expect a little more heat from Scorsese?" I thought Age of Innocence was pretty hot. So I said, "Alright, I'll do Casino (1995)," and they said, "Well, gee, it's the same as Goodfellas (1990)." You can't win. Yes, Casino has the style of GoodFellas, but it has more to do with America and even Hollywood - the idea of never being satisfied. * Movies touch our hearts and awaken our vision, and change the way we see things. They take us to other places, they open doors and minds. Movies are the memories of our life time, we need to keep them alive. * The Color of Money (1986) was deep-rooted in social concern about the effect money has on the upper class. The billiards game in the film was a symbol depicting society. I very much liked Paul Newman in The Hustler (1961), and thought of repeating him in a character with more mature shades. He scored with his brilliant underplaying, winning an Oscar. He was very cooperative with newcomer Tom Cruise, who showed promise. In fact, the whistling tone in the film titles was Newman's idea. He was one of those actors who made method acting spontaneous, and his emerald eyes spoke volumes. * I considered it a true cinematic challenge of working with a versatile actor such as Robert De Niro, who moulds himself according to each character. The only other actor who matches his histrionic ability is Al Pacino. * L'avventura (1960) gave me one of the most profound shocks I've ever had at the movies, greater even than À bout de souffle (1960) or Hiroshima mon amour (1959). Or La dolce vita (1960). At the time there were two camps, the people who liked the Fellini film and the ones who liked L'Avventura. I knew I was firmly on Antonioni's side of the line, but if you'd asked me at the time, I'm not sure I would have been able to explain why. I loved Fellini's pictures and I admired La Dolce Vita, but I was challenged by L' Avventura. Fellini's film moved me and entertained me, but Antonioni's film changed my perception of cinema, and the world around me, and made both seem limitless. I was mesmerized by L'Avventura and by Antonioni's subsequent films, and it was the fact that they were unresolved in any conventional sense that kept drawing me back. They posed mysteries - or rather the mystery, of who we are, what we are, to each other, to ourselves, to time. You could say that Antonioni was looking directly at the mysteries of the soul. That's why I kept going back. I wanted to keep experiencing these pictures, wandering through them. I still do. |
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