Biography for
Martin Scorsese

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Date of Birth

17 November 1942, Queens, New York, USA

Birth Name

Martin Marcantonio Luciano Scorsese

Nickname

Marty

Height

5' 4" (1.63 m)

Mini 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). 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 _Yume (1990)_.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Walter Melnyk

Spouse

Helen Morris	(22 July 1999 - present) 1 child
Barbara De Fina	(8 February 1985 - 1991) (divorced)
Isabella Rossellini	(29 September 1979 - November 1982) (divorced)
Julia Cameron	(30 December 1975 - ?) (divorced) 1 child
Laraine Marie Brennan	(15 May 1965 - ?) (divorced) 1 child

Trade Mark

Frequently casts Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Leonardo DiCaprio, Victor Argo, and Joe Pesci.

Begins his films with segments taken from the middle or end of the story. Examples include Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990) and Casino (1995).

[slow-motion] Makes use of slow motion techniques (e.g., Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980)).

His lead characters are often sociopathic and/or want to be accepted in society.

Extensive white lighting in scenes of his films.

Often uses diagetic music (i.e., source of music is visible on-screen).

His blonde leading ladies are usually seen through the eyes of the protagonist as angelic and ethereal; they always wear white in their first scene and are photographed in slow-motion (Cybill Shepherd in _Taxi Driver (1976)_ ; Cathy Moriarty's white bikini in Raging Bull (1980); Sharon Stone's white minidress in Casino (1995)). As the movie progresses, these ladies usually prove to be anything *but* angelic.

Often uses long tracking shots (a notoriously difficult shot to perfect) which is why he has been dubbed by some as the King of the Tracking Shot

Often uses freeze frames (e.g., Raging Bull, Goodfellas, The Departed)

Frequently uses music by The Rolling Stones ("Mean Streets", "Goodfellas", "Casino", "The Departed"), especially the song "Gimme Shelter"

Often begins his movies with the childhood of his main characters (Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Goodfellas, Kundun, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed)

Cameo appearances by himself and his family members in his movies.

Frequently sets his Films in New York City

Trivia

American Film Institute Life Achievement Award. [20 February 1997]

Listed as one of 50 people barred from entering Tibet. Disney clashed with Chinese officials over the film Kundun (1997), which Scorsese directed. [19 December 1996]

Awarded third annual John Huston Award for Artists Rights by the Artists Rights Foundation. [1995]

He has used his parents, Charles Scorsese and Catherine Scorsese, in many of his movies. Catherine played Joe Pesci's mother in Goodfellas (1990).

Presented with a special tribute at the 1976 Telluride Film Festival. It was presented by Michael Powell. [1976]

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).

Often uses Thelma Schoonmaker as his editor. She was later married to Michael Powell. 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.

Daughter Francesca Scorsese born. [16 November 1999]

John Woo dedicated his action film _Dip hyut shueng 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.

28 February 2003: Received star on Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The lead character in his films often uses a voiceover to gives the audience insight about his way of life (Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), Gangs of New York (2002), etc.).

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, is currently (Jan. 2004) "on hold" at Warner Bros. He has often said that he would love for Tom Hanks to play the legendary crooner.

For "Dino," his Dean Martin biopic, which has been on hiatus at Warner Brothers since the late 1990s, he has a very specific all A-list cast in mind, which maybe 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 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 parents 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.

Recently 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.

Biography/bibliography in: "Contemporary Authors". New Revision Series, Vol. 85, pp. 328-334. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 2000.

Hates the overuse of CGI effects and tries to use them as little as possible. He also shuns the idea of shooting movies digitally and vowed to continue shooting all of his movies on film. Other directors siding with Scorsese on this issue include Steven Spielberg and Oliver Stone.

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)).

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 Gattopardo, Il (1963).

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 2005, 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".

Uses the song "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones in Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995) and The Departed (2006).

He signed a four-year, first-look deal to develop projects with studio executives of Paramount. [November 2006]

Introduced Thelma Schoonmaker to her husband Michael Powell.

The Departed (2006) is the highest-grossing movie of his 40-year career.

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 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, 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).

On the only two occasions when he was Oscar-nominated as Best Director in years ending in zero - Raging Bull (1980) and Goodfellas (1990) - he was beaten by actors making their directorial debuts: Robert Redford for Ordinary People (1980) and Kevin Costner for Dances with Wolves (1990).

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 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.

Besides being permanent working partners, he and Thelma Schoonmaker are also personal friends.

Frequently casts pop stars in small acting roles: Kris Kristofferson in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), Clarence Clemons in New York, New York (1977), Mick Jones, Joe Strummer, Paul Simonon, and Ellen Foley, The King of Comedy (1982), Iggy Pop in The Color of Money (1986), David Bowie in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Deborah Harry and Peter Gabriel in New York Stories (1989), Marc Anthony and Queen Latifah in Bringing Out the Dead (1999), Gwen Stefani, Loudon Wainwright III, Martha Wainwright, and Rufus Wainwright in The Aviator (2004). Mark Wahlberg starred in The Departed (2006) long after ending his rapper days as "Marky Mark".

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.

Good friends with cinematographer and frequent collaborator Michael Ballhaus.

Was originally going to direct The Honeymoon Killers (1970), but was replaced after a week of shooting.

Served as a guest critic on At The Movies following the death of Gene Siskel.

He was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute in recognition of his outstanding contribution to film culture.

Personal Quotes

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] 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], Best Supporting Actress [Jodie Foster] 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.

Salary

Gangs of New York (2002)

$6,000,000 (had to pay $3 million back due to budget overruns)

Where Are They Now

(2005) Honorary president of the Vienna Film museum

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