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01
Taught both Oliver Stone and Spike Lee at New York University.
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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.
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03
Admits he made Hugo 2011 so he would have at least one film his daughter could watch.
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04
Says he was happy that it took so long for him to win Best Director, because an early win might have changed his directing.
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05
When he won his Best Director Oscar for The Departed 2006, he received the award from 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.
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06
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 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.
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07
Has collaborated with Robert De Niro in eight films. Scorsese has said that his creative collaboration with De Niro is 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.
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08
He was one of three 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.
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09
Directed 20 different actors in Oscar nominated performances: Jodie Foster, Robert De Niro four times, Joe Pesci three times, 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, Al Pacino, and Lily Gladstone. Burstyn, De Niro, Newman, Pesci and Blanchett won Oscars for their roles in one of Scorsese’s movies.
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10
He directed Michael Jackson’s music video Michael Jackson: Bad 1987. The full length video runs 16 minutes and is in both black and white and color. It is shortened down to just the color segment for television.
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Personally spurns the notion of a director’s cut, believing that once a film is completed, it should not be altered.
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12
Roger Ebert is an 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 a book of his reviews, interviews and essays on Scorsese’s work titled Scorsese By Ebert.
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Has mentioned that he thought Robert De Niro’s best performance under his direction was as Rupert Pupkin in The King of Comedy 1982.
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Served as a guest critic on At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper 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 1993, 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.
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15
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 fan of the film. Today, both directors cite the film as an influence.
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16
The Wolf of Wall Street 2013 is the highest-grossing movie of his 47-year career with a worldwide gross of $389,600,694.
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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.
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18
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.
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19
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.
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Is a fan of Fawlty Towers 1975. He describes the episode The Germans 1975 as so tasteless, it’s hilarious.
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He and Robert De Niro were brought up blocks apart in the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan, but never formally met when they were young. When introduced at a party in 1972, the two came to realize that they had seen each other many times but had never spoken.
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22
Has worked with names of music business: Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, U2, Michael Jackson and David Bowie.
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The first movie he saw at the cinema was Duel in the Sun 1946, he was age 4.
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When asked where audiences would find the next Martin Scorsese, he said to look to Wes Anderson, the young director of Rushmore 1998.
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25
Once surprised Dave Chappelle by saying he was a fan and quoting from The Playa Haters Ball.
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26
Leonardo DiCaprio thanked him when he won the Best Actor Oscar for Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s The Revenant 2015. During his acceptance speech, DiCaprio thanked Scorsese for teaching him so much about the cinematic art form February 28, 2016.
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27
Both The Last Temptation of Christ 1988 and Gangs of New York 2002 were passions of his that he had wanted to make since the 1970s. When he first started 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 by the time Gangs went into production, it was decided he was too old to play Cutting.
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28
Was at one time interested in making a remake of Scarface 1932 with Robert De Niro.
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The death of Federico Fellini was 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.
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30
Despite being known for directing dark and often violent movies, he is known in real life to be a friendly, polite and mild-mannered person who gets along well with his cast and crew.
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31
His favorite films include: Citizen Kane 1941, The Red Shoes 1948 and The Leopard 1963.
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32
Resides in New York City. His production offices are located on West 57th Street in Manhattan.
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33
Ranked #3 in Empire UK magazine’s The Greatest Directors Ever.
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Although his films often have much profanity; Scorsese himself rarely uses R rated language in real life.
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35
According to lifelong collaborator Thelma Schoonmaker, Marty’s favorite facet of the filmmaking process is the editing.
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December 19, 1996 Listed as one of 50 people barred from entering Tibet. Disney clashed with Chinese officials over the film Kundun 1997, which Scorsese directed.
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Was given the script of Taxi Driver 1976 by his friend Brian De Palma.
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Was friend, protégé, and employee of actor-director John Cassavetes.
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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 real desire.
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40
Good friends with editor Thelma Schoonmaker and cinematographer Michael Ballhaus. Scorsese introduced Thelma to her husband Michael Powell and he often quotes Powell as an influence.
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41
Is a fan of the British Hammer Films series.
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42
Donated his collection of papers, photographs, memorabilia and other film-related ephemera to the Wesleyan University Cinema Archive, where it is conserved along with the collections of such film figures as Frank Capra, Clint Eastwood, Ingrid Bergman, John Waters, Elia Kazan and others. The Archive is kept under the supervision of film historian, scholar and Professor of Film Studies Jeanine Basinger.
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43
His name is pronounced Scor-sez-see.
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44
Directed three films on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 Greatest Movies: Raging Bull 1980 at #4, Taxi Driver 1976 at #52 and GoodFellas 1990 at #92.
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45
Has 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.
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46
He has directed five films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically or aesthetically significant: Mean Streets 1973, Taxi Driver 1976, The Last Waltz 1978, Raging Bull 1980 and GoodFellas 1990. With Raging Bull and Goodfellas, he is the only director to have two films that were selected for the registry in their first year of eligibility.
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47
Apart from his work as a filmmaker, he has been a vocal supporter of film preservation for almost three decades. His efforts to create 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 has also agreed to serve as Honorary President of the Austrian Film Museum in Vienna.
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48
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.
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49
As of March 2016, seven of his films are on the IMDb’s Top 250 Films list: GoodFellas 1990, Taxi Driver 1976, Raging Bull 1980, The Departed 2006, Casino 1995, Shutter Island 2010 and The Wolf of Wall Street 2013.
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50
John Woo dedicated his action film The Killer 1989 to Scorsese on a commentary he did for the movie’s DVD.
