I am again deeply grateful to IMDb for providing an abundance of information about Martin Scorcese‘s life and work. He was born on November 17, 1942 in Queens, New York City, to Catherine Scorsese (née Cappa) and Charles Scorsese, who both worked in Manhattan’s garment district, and whose families both came from Palermo, Sicily. He was raised in the neighborhood of Little Italy, which later provided the inspiration for several of his films. Scorsese earned a B.S. degree in film communications in 1964, followed by an M.A. in the same field in 1966 at New York University’s School of Film.* * *
His name is pronounced “Scor-sez-see”.
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.
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 Who’s That Knocking at My Door (1967) and Mean Streets (1973). Old St. Patrick’s is also where the baptism scene in The Godfather (1972) took place.
Of the three films he has 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 this 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 fourth 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 being retired as a filmmaker).
Several characters in his films refer to the legendary (noir) actor John Garfield, star of the original film 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 this; Polanski was not 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 this himself.
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 role in “Temptation” and this was decided he was too old to play Cutting by the time that “Gangs” finally went into production.
Has famously collaborated with Robert De Niro in eight 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 in the film.
Has 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.
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 similar circumstance, has lost two times the Best Director Oscar to directors who act occasionally. Nominations came from Gangs of New York (2002) (lost out to trained actor Roman Polanski in The Pianist (2002)) and The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) (lost to Barry Levinson for Rain Man (1988)).
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).
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).
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) is the highest-grossing movie of his 47-year career with a worldwide gross of $389,600,694.
Has worked with big names of music business: Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, U2, Michael Jackson and David Bowie.
Directed 19 different actors in Oscar nominated performances: Jodie Foster, Robert De Niro (three times), Joe Pesci (twice), Leonardo DiCaprio (twice), Daniel Day-Lewis, Cate Blanchett, Winona Ryder, Ellen Burstyn, Sharon Stone, Diane Ladd, Cathy Moriarty, Juliette Lewis, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Newman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Alan Alda, Mark Wahlberg, Jonah Hill, and Al Pacino. 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 nine 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 this was not available the owner told him, “that Romero kid has it”, referring to George A. Romero who was also a huge 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.
Served as a guest critic on At 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 1990s (#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.) A Borrowed Life (1994), 2.) The Thin Red Line (1998), 1.) The Horse Thief (1986).
On Inside the Actors Studio (1994), he said the directors that inspired him the most are John Cassavetes, Orson Welles, John Ford, Federico Fellini, Elia Kazan, Roberto Rossellini, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.
According to lifelong collaborator Thelma Schoonmaker, Marty’s favorite facet of the filmmaking process is the editing.
Despite being known for his gangster films, he has only made five films out of almost 50 about the Mob: Mean Streets (1973), Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), Gangs of New York (2002) and The Departed (2006). His other films vary in genre and style, from period epics to musical to biography of the 14th Dalai Lama.
Admits he made Hugo (2011) so he would have at least one film that his daughter could watch.
Martin Scorsese presented both Robert De Niro and Mel Brooks their AFI Lifetime Achievement awards.
Despite the fact that Martin Scorsese does not like remakes, he has directed two. The first was Cape Fear (1991) and the second was The Departed (2006). The Departed is a remake of the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs (2002).
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