Academy Award-winning filmmaker <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/martin-scorsese">Martin Scorsese</a> will host and produce a documentary series about <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/christianity">Christian</a> saints for Fox News&#8217;s streaming service, Fox Nation. 
The 81-year-old <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/entertainment">director</a> will spearhead “Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints” to air as part of an eight-part limited series, with the first four episodes debuting in November 2024 and the second four in May 2025. The drama will cover “the remarkable stories of eight men and women who risked everything to embody humanity’s most noble and complex trait — faith,” the network wrote of the project.
“Having the greatest storyteller tell some of the greatest stories of all time is exactly the kind of exclusive content that is driving Fox Nation’s success,” Fox News Media’s chief digital and marketing officer Jason Klarman said in a statement, per <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/news/breaking-news/martin-scorsese-fox-nation-show-1234968476/">IndieWire</a>. “It’s an honor to welcome the world-renowned Martin Scorsese to the Fox Nation platform.”
Scorsese said of the project, “I’ve lived with the stories of the saints for most of my life, thinking about their words and actions, imagining the worlds they inhabited, the choices they faced, the examples they set. These are stories of eight very different men and women, each of them living through vastly different periods of history and struggling to follow the way of love revealed to them and to us by Jesus’ words in the gospels. I’m so excited that this project is underway, and that I’m working with so many trusted and talented collaborators.”
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The outlet noted that the eight saints covered in the series will be Joan of Arc, Francis of Assisi, John the Baptist, Thomas Becket, Mary Magdalene, Moses the Black, Sebastian, and Maximillian Kolbe.
Earlier this year, Scorsese said he was working on a “film about Jesus” in an effort to alter public perceptions of religion.
“I’m trying to find a new way to make it more accessible and take away the negative onus of what has been associated with organized religion,” the filmmaker <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/martin-scorsese-says-his-new-film-about-jesus-will-remove-negative-onus-from-organized-religion">told</a> the LA Times during a January interview.
“Right now, ‘religion,’ you say that word and everyone is up in arms because it’s failed in so many ways,” Scorsese continued. “You may reject it. But it might make a difference in how you live your life — even in rejecting it. Don’t dismiss it offhand.”

Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese To Produce Docuseries On Christian Saints

Celebrities

Christianity

Entertainment

Fox News

U.S.

Academy Award-winning filmmaker <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/martin-scorsese">Martin Scorsese</a> claims that his new &#8220;film about <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/jesus-christ">Jesus</a>&#8221; will radically alter public opinion on organized religion.
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/movies">movie</a>, which is based on Japanese novelist Shūsaku Endō’s book “A Life of Jesus,” was announced last year and is scheduled to start filming later in 2024. The screenplay is reportedly finished, and the movie will have an estimated run time of 80 minutes.
Scorsese discussed his goals for the project during a Los Angeles Times <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/awards/story/2024-01-08/martin-scorsese-killers-of-the-flower-moon-new-jesus-film">profile</a> published Monday. “I’m trying to find a new way to make it more accessible and take away the negative onus of what has been associated with organized <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/christianity">religion</a>,” Scorsese said of the film.
“Right now, ‘religion,’ you say that word and everyone is up in arms because it’s failed in so many ways,” the 81-year-old filmmaker continued. “You may reject it. But it might make a difference in how you live your life — even in rejecting it. Don’t dismiss it offhand.”
The outlet noted that Scorsese decided to make the movie after meeting with Pope Francis in May 2023. “I have responded to the Pope’s appeal to artists in the only way I know how: by imagining and writing a screenplay for a film about Jesus,” he said at the time.
Many moviegoers will recall that the Hollywood director has made a movie about Jesus before. His film “The Last Temptation of Christ,” was extremely controversial when it premiered in 1988.
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Eternal World Television Network founder Mother Angelica <a href="https://www.slashfilm.com/753575/the-last-temptation-of-christ-controversy-explained-how-martin-scorseses-passion-project-became-a-nightmare/">called</a> the movie &#8220;sacrilegious&#8221; for its storyline, which depicted Jesus as a mortal sinner like all other people in existence. One of the most infamous scenes shows Jesus (Willem Dafoe) fantasizing about having a sexual relationship with Mary Magdalene.
The film includes a disclaimer saying it’s “not based on the Gospels, but upon the fictional exploration of the eternal spiritual conflict,&#8221; but that didn’t stop Christians from boycotting the movie.
The book Scorsese is using as his inspiration also approaches the topic of Jesus in an unconventional way. Endo <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Life_of_Jesus.html?id=xzJqjZaT1mwC">wrote the book</a> for Japanese people who would be more open to the “motherly side of Jesus” because fathers in his culture are seen as stern and harsh.

Martin Scorsese Says His New ‘Film About Jesus’ Will Remove ‘Negative Onus’ From Organized Religion

Martin Scorsese Says His New 'Film About Jesus' Will Remove 'Negative Onus' From Organized Religion

Hollywood

Jesus Christ

Movies

Religion

Movie theaters across the globe have added intermissions into <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/martin-scorsese" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Martin Scorsese&#8217;s</a> latest 3-hour-plus film &#8220;Killers of the Flower Moon&#8221; and Paramount Pictures and Apple Original Films have made it clear they aren&#8217;t happy about it.
The Leonardo DiCaprio-led film runs 206 minutes, and theaters throughout Europe and the U.S. decided to pause the film and allow those watching the movie to take a break from anywhere between six minutes to 15 minutes, Variety <a href="https://au.variety.com/2023/film/news/killers-of-the-flower-moon-intermission-violations-apple-paramount-martin-scorsese-11635/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
One independent theater in Amsterdam and two European cinema chains sold tickets after advertising that there would be a built-in break. A spokesperson for the international theater chain UCI Cinemas told the outlet that all of its nearly 80 theaters, except for a few, included a &#8220;six-minute interval towards the middle of the film.&#8221;
A U.K.-based theater chain and an Amsterdam cinema called The Movies Haarlemmerdijk &#8220;also were offering showings with a break, according to their websites,&#8221; the outlet noted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Martin Scorsese&#8217;s &#8216;Killers of the Flower Moon&#8217; is so long that some theaters are pausing the three-and-a-half-hour epic for bathroom breaks — and it&#8217;s divided moviegoers <a href="https://t.co/j3YaMAGM12">https://t.co/j3YaMAGM12</a>
— Insider (@thisisinsider) <a href="https://twitter.com/thisisinsider/status/1718310493574865350?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2023</a></blockquote>
A theater in Colorado went viral after a photo posted on social media showed a sign about the intermission. Once the studio and the film&#8217;s producer got word of it, they shut things down.
Theaters have reportedly been contacted by the companies that by putting in the breaks, they are violating their contracts, and they&#8217;re being told to show the movie as intended, according to an individual with knowledge of the situation, Variety noted.
One theater that added an eight-minute pause told <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/killers-of-the-flower-moon-intermission-movie-theaters-1235629492/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Hollywood Reporter</a> that moviegoers were definitely a fan of the now-ceased pause.
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&#8220;Everybody was really into it because it&#8217;s a longer movie, and they&#8217;re like, &#8216;I wish we would have had it for Oppenheimer,'&#8221; the individual said. &#8220;People could come out, order another drink, stretch their legs, go to the bathroom and not miss anything.&#8221;
&#8220;People were big fans of it,&#8221; the person added. &#8220;We were going to keep doing it going forward with longer movies, but now it doesn&#8217;t seem like an option.&#8221;
Editor of the film Thelma Schoonmaker <a href="https://au.variety.com/2023/film/news/killers-of-the-flower-moon-intermission-violations-apple-paramount-martin-scorsese-11635/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, &#8220;I understand that somebody&#8217;s running it with an intermission which is not right. That&#8217;s a violation so I have to find out about it.&#8221;
Scorsese &#8212; who has not directly addressed the intermissions &#8212; defended the film&#8217;s length to the <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/hollywood/martin-scorsese-interview-killers-of-the-flower-moon-leonardo-dicaprio-robert-de-niro-apple-tv-101695989444345.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hindustan Times</a>.
&#8220;People say it&#8217;s three hours, but come on, you can sit in front of the TV and watch something for five hours,&#8221; Scorsese said. &#8220;Also, there are many people who watch theatre for three and a half hours. There are real actors on stage — you can&#8217;t get up and walk around. You give it that respect; give cinema some respect.&#8221;

Movie theater.

Theaters Adding Intermission To Scorsese’s 3-Hour-Plus Film, Studios Not Happy About It

Theaters Adding Intermission To Scorsese’s 3-Hour-Plus Film, Studio Not Happy About It

World

Iconic movie director <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/martin-scorsese">Martin Scorsese</a> said his first time working with both <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/leonardo-dicaprio">Leonardo DiCaprio</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/robert-de-niro">Robert De Niro</a> on the same project caused some friction.
The trio of greats teamed up for Scorsese’s newest <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/watch/movies">film</a>, an American Western crime drama called “Killers of the Flower Moon.” The Academy Award-winning filmmaker said in a recent <a href="https://www.wsj.com/style/martin-scorsese-killers-flower-moon-b4989f0c">profile</a> by The Wall Street Journal Magazine that the two actors didn’t always get along on set.
It all had to do with DiCaprio’s tendency to talk a lot during his <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/entertainment">improv performances</a>. &#8220;Every now and then, Bob and I would look at each other and roll our eyes a little bit,&#8221; Scorsese told the outlet. &#8220;And we&#8217;d tell [DiCaprio], &#8216;You don&#8217;t need that dialogue.'&#8221;
The director highlighted the difference between the two men, saying DiCaprio’s talking was &#8220;endless, endless, endless!&#8221; while De Niro &#8220;didn&#8217;t want to talk.&#8221;
Scorsese has touched on this before, but insisted that both actors complemented each other.
&#8220;I found I could work with [Leo] if I talked with him a lot,&#8221; Scorsese told reporters at a press conference in early October, per <a href="https://ew.com/movies/killers-of-the-flower-moon-exclusive-clip-robert-de-niro-leonardo-dicaprio/">Entertainment Weekly</a>. &#8220;His method for me is a method of constant conversation, constant exploration. With De Niro, it&#8217;s a little different. Yes, there&#8217;s talking, but then there&#8217;s quiet.&#8221; 
He said this was actually a good thing, insisting that &#8220;the two together played off each other so beautifully.”
&#8220;When Leo and I started to work together, I discovered we had similar sensibilities that Bob and I had,&#8221; Scorsese added. &#8220;He was also brave enough to go to places the way that Bob would — difficult places. [He had] a fearlessness about performing and trying anything.&#8221;
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“Killers of the Flower Moon” is set in 1920s Oklahoma and explores America’s interactions with indigenous people at the time. It follows a string of murders, dubbed the “Reign of Terror,” of members of the Osage Nation. DiCaprio plays Ernest Burkhart, a World War I veteran, while De Niro portrays his uncle, Oklahoma businessman William Hale. 
Though the three Hollywood legends have never worked together before, this is Scorsese’s tenth film with De Niro and his sixth with DiCaprio. De Niro and DiCaprio also appeared in movies together several times, beginning with “This Boy’s Life” in (1993).
“Killer of the Flower Moon” premieres on Friday.

DiCaprio, Scorsese, De Niro

Martin Scorsese Reveals How Leonardo DiCaprio Irritated Robert De Niro On Set Of ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’

Martin Scorsese Said Leonardo DiCaprio Irritated Robert De Niro On Set Of 'Killers Of The Flower Moon'

Leonardo DiCaprio

Robert de Niro

Academy Award-winning movie director <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/martin-scorsese">Martin Scorsese</a> is once again making his feelings about comic book and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/entertainment">franchise movies</a> clear.
The 80-year-old <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/hollywood">Hollywood</a> mainstay shared his views during a recent cover <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/martin-scorsese-profile">profile</a> for GQ magazine. Scorsese came down hard on the genre and went as far as urging other industry professionals to join him in rebelling against them.
&#8220;The danger there is what it’s doing to our culture. Because there are going to be generations now that think <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/movies">movies</a> are only those — that’s what movies are,&#8221; the legendary director said.
&#8220;They already think that. Which means that we have to then fight back stronger. And it’s got to come from the grassroots level.&#8221;
Scorsese continued, saying, “It’s gotta come from the filmmakers themselves. And you’ll have, you know, the Safdie brothers, and you’ll have Chris Nolan, you know what I mean? And hit ’em from all sides. Hit ’em from all sides, and don’t give up. Let’s see what you got. Go out there and do it. Go reinvent. Don’t complain about it. But it’s true, because we’ve got to save cinema.&#8221; 
He added, &#8220;I do think that the manufactured content isn’t really cinema,” before backtracking a little. &#8220;No, I don’t want to say it,” Scorsese went on. “But what I mean is that, it’s manufactured content. It’s almost like AI making a film.&#8221; 
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&#8220;And that doesn’t mean that you don’t have incredible directors and special effects people doing beautiful artwork,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But what does it mean? What do these films, what will it give you? Aside from a kind of consummation of something and then eliminating it from your mind, your whole body, you know? So what is it giving you?&#8221;
The “Goodfellas” director said he’s not opposed to technology as a whole, citing IMAX and 3D as innovative ways to enhance filmmaking. But he still has no love for the comic book genre. 
&#8220;I’m looking forward to new ways,&#8221; he said. &#8220;You gotta say something with a movie. Otherwise, what’s the point of making it? You’ve got to be saying something.&#8221;
Scorsese got into hot water with Marvel fans in 2019 when he compared superhero films to “theme parks” during an interview with Empire magazine. 
“I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema,” the director <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/avengers-directors-respond-to-martin-scorsese-nobody-owns-cinema">said at the time</a>. “Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”

Martin Scorcese

Martin Scorsese Says Comic Book Films Are A ‘Danger’ To Society: ‘We’ve Got To Save Cinema’

Martin Scorsese Says Comic Book Films Are A 'Danger' To Society: 'We've Got To Save Cinema'

Comic Books

Marvel

Superheroes

Legendary director <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/martin-scorsese">Martin Scorcese</a> met with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/pope-francis">Pope Francis</a> during a tour of Italy after Cannes and announced he’ll be making a Jesus-focused film.
“I have responded to the Pope’s appeal to artists in the only way I know how: by imagining and writing a screenplay for a film about Jesus,” Scorsese said Saturday during a Rome conference at the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/catholicism">Vatican</a>, per multiple reports including <a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/global/martin-scorsese-pope-francis-film-about-jesus-1235627620/">Variety</a>. “And I’m about to start making it,” the director said. Insiders believe this may be Scorcese&#8217;s next project.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Thank you to Martin <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Scorsese?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Scorsese</a> for accepting the invitation to join us of La Civiltà Cattolica and Georgetown University &#8211; along with his wife and daughter &#8211; in the meeting of 40 poets and writers from different Countries with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PopeFrancesco?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PopeFrancesco</a>, who said among other things, &quot;This is… <a href="https://t.co/yG6bEyo2Wq">pic.twitter.com/yG6bEyo2Wq</a>
&mdash; Antonio Spadaro (@antoniospadaro) <a href="https://twitter.com/antoniospadaro/status/1662421653404491778?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The 80-year-old Hollywood icon also had a private meeting with Pope Francis prior to attending “The Global Aesthetics of the Catholic Imagination,” a conference organized by the Jesuit publication La Civiltà Cattolica and Georgetown University.
Editor of La Civiltà Cattolica Antonio Spadaro said on the publication’s website that Scorsese talked about “How the Holy Father’s appeal ‘to let us see Jesus’ moved him.” Scorcese reportedly expressed his appreciation for previous works, including “The Gospel According to St. Matthew.” 
During the conversation, the director also discussed his controversial 1988 drama “The Last Temptation of Christ” and of “the subsequent step in his research on the figure of Jesus.”
The movie was extremely controversial when it was released as it broke from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/christianity">Gospel narratives</a> and depicted Jesus as fantasizing about married life with Mary Magdalene, including a scene fantasizing about the consummation of their relationship. 
Prominent Catholic nun Mother Angelica, founder of Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), <a href="https://meaww.com/martin-scorsese-announces-new-jesus-movie-but-his-last-biblical-epic-didnt-go-down-too-well-as-it-sparked-major-controversy-globally" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called the movie</a> &#8220;the most blasphemous ridicule of the Eucharist that&#8217;s ever been perpetrated in this world&#8221; and &#8220;a holocaust movie that has the power to destroy souls eternally.&#8221; 
“The Last Temptation” received multiple accolades, including nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director and two Golden Globe nominations. It earned more than $33 million worldwide, but has been banned or censored in several countries. 
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Hollywood has approached the topic of religion in a more conventional way, however, and generated profits while doing so. Mel Gibson’s famous “The Passion of the Christ” (2004), which primarily covers the 12 hours leading up to Christ’s crucifixion, is the highest-grossing R-rated movie domestically, earning $370.8 million. 
A sequel based on Jesus’s resurrection has been rumored for years and is reportedly set to start filming in mid-2023.

Martin Scorsese and Pope Francis

Martin Scorsese Meets Pope Francis, Says He’s Working On Film About Jesus: Reports

Martin Scorsese Meets Pope Francis, Says He's Working On Film About Jesus: Reports

Catholicism

Pope Francis

This week marks the 30th anniversary of Martin Scorsese’s 1990 modern classic, Goodfellas. I like to boast that I have watched Goodfellas well over 50 times, and have most of the film’s dialogue and soundtrack firmly etched into my memory. But I have a confession: I’ve only watched the first half of Goodfellas over 50 times. The full film, start-to-finish, I have watched around 5 times (at least three of which were with former girlfriends who I fervently tried to convince they’d just seen the best movie of their lives). 
And this is because Goodfellas is a film of two sides. The first half of the film, its A-Side, is an all-you-can-eat buffet of hedonistic, unbridled, and testosterone-fueled fun. All tuned and engineered for the male gaze.
Sitting confidently in Hollywood’s halls of approbation as one of the greatest opening scenes in the history of cinema, Scorsese immediately draws you into his world, planting you in Henry Hill’s Chevy Impala as it barrels down the highway with your favorite antiheroes: Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) riding shotgun and Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci) in the backseat. You witness Billy Batts’ (Frank Vincent) pitiless murder, after which Henry Hill stares down at the bloody carcass under the deep red hue emanating from the headlights of his car. He’s staring down in the abyss, into the chasm of hell, and he says, “As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.” 
Once Tony Bennet’s “Rags to Riches” swoops in and he sings those first few lyrics, “I know I’d go from rags to riches,” the setup is complete. The A-Side of Goodfellas follows Henry Hill on his ride through the venal annals of organized crime.
Along his journey, under the influence of his mentors Jimmy and Tommy, Henry fundamentally rejects and denounces the basic laws and tenets of society. Henry regards basic precepts like hard work and honesty as banalities of commoners, peons such as his hardworking blue-collar parents. Like Raskolnikov from Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, Henry considers himself above the basic morality that governs society. 
Describing his crass and unruly lifestyle, Henry boasts, “For us to live any other way was nuts. Uh, to us, those goody-good people who worked shitty jobs for bum paychecks and took the subway to work every day, and worried about their bills, were dead. I mean they were suckers. They had no balls. If we wanted something, we just took it. If anyone complained twice, they got hit so bad, believe me, they never complained again.”
This is what makes Goodfellas (at least its first half) the ultimate male fantasy. Its ethos is simple: bear balls of steel (or even diamonds!) and the hubris to take whatever you want from whomever you want. 
As a result, unburdened by any conscience or semblance of moral culpability, Henry, Jimmy, and Tommy murder and steal their way into tailored Italian suits, fine cars, and women and mistresses. The women, they cheat on and treat, to borrow a song title from the Rolling Stones, like yesterday’s papers. If anyone gets in their way, or tries to “bust their balls,” they put them in their place. Billy Batts, from the opening scene, can attest to this. 
Martin Scorsese gregariously invites you to live out your deepest and most power-lusting fantasies vicariously through the ridiculous and fabled lives of these antiheroes, gorged with the unnerving temperament of lovable sociopaths like Tommy who, at any moment, could shoot anyone and apologize by explaining, “Good shot. What do you want from me? Good shot.” 
But the B-Side, the second half of Goodfellas, carries a palpably different tone. It is the tragic decline and fall of the frightening new friends we made in the first half of the film. Consumed by their lives of debauchery and sin, the “wiseguys” now face a harsh reality. They too, despite all their swagger, are bound to the same laws as all the – as Henry Hill described them – goody-good people who worked shitty jobs for bum paychecks. 
In one interview, Scorsese explained the making of Goodfellas, “In Scarface, you have this situation, where these characters who were really despicable, are presented in such a way that you like them. And that was the key.” It is precisely this chic, lustrous façade that Scorsese draped over the lives of his antiheroes that makes Goodfellas&#8217; second half, the descent, so much more difficult to watch and ultimately thumps you straight in the solar plexus.
Your favorite characters each fall victim to their vices. Their lives, their marriages, and their friendships are all torn apart and burned to ash.
At the beginning of Goodfellas, Henry Hill first introduces Jimmy Conway as, “the kind of guy that rooted for bad guys in the movies.” By the end of the film, we realize the joke was on us. We were rooting for the bad guys all along. 
Harry Khachatrian is a Canadian computer engineer and a contributor at The Daily Wire. Find him on <a href="https://twitter.com/Harry1T6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=https://twitter.com/Harry1T6&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1513617344022000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHh2pXFSex2266c4GY1YE3A-Q6Ykw">Twitter</a>, pungently commenting on the latest news headlines.

Cast of Goodfellas (1990)

KHACHATRIAN: ‘Goodfellas,’ 30 Years Later

During a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times published Thursday, iconic director Martin Scorsese was asked again about his handling of female characters in his films amid criticism that he doesn&#8217;t give them big enough roles — a complaint sparked by the nearly silent role played by Anna Paquin in his new film, &#8220;The Irishman.&#8221; While Scorsese largely shrugged off the larger question, sticking to defending his take on Paquin&#8217;s character, the president of his production company, who happens to be a woman, felt compelled to come strongly to the director&#8217;s defense.
In the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/02/movies/martin-scorsese-irishman.html">interview</a>, Scorsese addresses a variety of topics, including his public feud with Marvel and his decision to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/martin-scorsese-takes-swipe-at-todd-phillips-joker-a-film-he-passed-up-producing">turn down</a> a producer role on director Todd Phillips&#8217; &#8220;Taxi&#8221;-like &#8220;Joker.&#8221; One of the topics interviewer Dave Itzkoff couldn&#8217;t resist was the recent criticism about Scorsese&#8217;s female characters, as expressed by The Guardian&#8217;s Beatrice Loayza in an op-ed titled &#8220;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/nov/07/why-dont-women-speak-in-the-irishman-martin-scorsese-anna-paquin-hollywood">Seen but not heard: why don&#8217;t women speak in The Irishman?</a>&#8221;
&#8220;Scorsese has created provocative roles for women. But with only six words in his latest film, Anna Paquin’s moral spectre is a sign of a troubling trend in Hollywood,&#8221; writes Loayza. &#8220;A practically mute, moral spectre judging her father’s criminal lifestyle from the sidelines, she appears only a handful of times – less than 10 minutes in total. Within these boundaries, Peggy is disconcertingly diminished: Paquin speaks six words in a movie that clocks in at three-and-a-half hours. There may be a potency to such intentional restraint within the film’s elegiac trappings, yet circumscribing Peggy as Frank’s moral conscience remains doggedly frustrating. Is she more of a symbol than an actual person? &#8230; In any case, women in The Irishman are moral reminders and checks on an inward looking all-male reality.&#8221;
In response to the criticism, Scorsese, Loayza writes, &#8220;argued that Paquin’s character — whose wordless rejection of the aging Frank devastates him — was in no way diminished by her silence.&#8221;
&#8220;Don’t go for the surface. The surface says, ‘I’m going to say something and there’s going to be two or three big scenes between me and my father.’ She doesn’t need to. She saw what he did. She knows what he’s capable of,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;Scorsese said he was aware of the wider debate about the representation of women in his films, acknowledging that &#8216;The Irishman&#8217; is a &#8216;more sequestered&#8217; movie but not solely representative of his body of work,&#8221; Itzkoff explains, but offers no further comments on the issue from the director.
Emma Tillinger Koskoff, the president of production of Scorsese’s Sikelia Productions company, however, had some more strident comments that Itzkoff chose to include in his write-up.
Koskoff, who has been working with Scorsese on various projects for over a decade, &#8220;vehemently rejected the notion that Scorsese had historically overlooked women,&#8221; Itzkoff writes.
&#8220;It&#8217;s silly,&#8221; she said of the criticism. Scorsese &#8220;is responsible for some of the greatest female characters in cinema history,&#8221; she underscored.
Koskoff went on to cite &#8220;the roles played by Ellen Burstyn in &#8216;Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,&#8217; Lorraine Bracco in &#8216;Goodfellas,&#8217; Jessica Lange and Juliette Lewis in &#8216;Cape Fear&#8217; and Sharon Stone in &#8216;Casino,&#8217; among others,&#8221; notes Itzkoff. Additionally, Koskoff pointed out that Scorsese has &#8220;supported female directors by helping to produce films like Joanna Hogg’s &#8216;The Souvenir,'&#8221; Itzkoff adds.
&#8220;I could go on and on and on,&#8221; said Koskoff. &#8220;He’s not making ‘Lady Bird’ but it’s not like he’s opposed to that.&#8221;
While Scorsese didn&#8217;t bother to defend himself too strongly in the Times interview, he has done so more forcefully in the past. As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/scorsese-asked-why-his-films-have-so-few-female-characters-slaps-down-question-not-even-a-valid-point">The Daily Wire</a> reported, when Scorsese was asked why his films have so few female characters during the Rome Film Fest in October, the director slammed the very premise of the question.
&#8220;That’s not even a valid point. That’s not valid,&#8221; said Scorsese. &#8220;&#8230;That goes back to 1970. That’s a question that I’ve had for so many years. Am I supposed to? If the story doesn’t call for it. … It’s a waste of everybody’s time. If the story calls for a female character lead, why not?&#8221;
The criticism directed at Scorsese from feminist circles at one point include the rumor that he &#8220;ordered&#8221; Paquin to accept the &#8220;diminished&#8221; character, but the actress promptly shot that down. &#8220;Nope, nobody was doing any &#8216;ordering&#8217;,&#8221; she tweeted in early November. &#8220;I auditioned for the privilege of joining the incredible cast of [&#8216;The Irishman&#8217;] and I’m incredibly proud to get to be a part of this film.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Nope, nobody was doing any “ordering”. I auditioned for the privilege of joining the incredible cast of .<a href="https://twitter.com/TheIrishmanFilm?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheIrishmanFilm</a> and I’m incredibly proud to get to be a part of this film. <a href="https://t.co/yx54jE4ugy">https://t.co/yx54jE4ugy</a>
&mdash; Anna Paquin (@AnnaPaquin) <a href="https://twitter.com/AnnaPaquin/status/1193238310283407361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 9, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/martin-scorsese-takes-swipe-at-todd-phillips-joker-a-film-he-passed-up-producing">Martin Scorsese Takes Swipe At Todd Phillips’ ‘Joker,’ A Film He Passed Up Producing</a>

Martin Scorsese Anna Paquin

Scorsese Asked Again About Giving Women Bigger Roles; Female Head Of His Production Company Unloads

Feminism

Legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese, hot off his <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/martin-scorsese-shreds-marvel-movies-says-theyre-not-cinema">controversial take</a> on Marvel movies, has now taken a swipe at Todd Phillips&#8217; &#8220;Joker.&#8221;
Speaking to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/02/movies/martin-scorsese-irishman.html">The New York Times</a> for an interview published Thursday, Scorsese said he has not seen many films this year, including &#8220;Joker.&#8221; And he has no plans to see the film, calling it just &#8220;fine.&#8221;
“I saw clips of it. I know it. So it’s like, why do I need to?&#8221; Scorsese said of &#8220;Joker.&#8221;
“I get it. It’s fine,&#8221; he added.
As noted by the Times, &#8220;Joker&#8221; contains many homages to Scorsese&#8217;s own work. Moreover, &#8220;The Irishman&#8221; director passed on an offer to executive produce the film.
Moviegoers are not on the same page. Phillips&#8217; &#8220;Joker,&#8221; starring award-winning actor Joaquin Phoenix, became the highest grossing R-rated film in history.
&#8220;With $788.1M worldwide, Warner Bros./Village Roadshow/Bron Studio’s &#8216;Joker&#8217; has just passed Fox’s &#8216;Deadpool&#8217; to become the highest grossing R-rated movie of all-time,&#8221; <a href="https://deadline.com/2019/10/joker-worldwide-box-office-record-r-rated-movie-1202764732/">Deadline</a> reported in October. &#8220;That Marvel pic ended its run with $783M. By the end of the weekend, it’s expected that &#8216;Joker&#8221;s global tally will stand at $825M. At least a $900 final tally is expected with a profit after ancillaries at $464M.&#8221;
In October, Scorsese caught the scorn of Marvel fans when he said the high-grossing films are &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/martin-scorsese-shreds-marvel-movies-says-theyre-not-cinema">not cinema</a>.&#8221;
“I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema,” Scorsese said of the movies, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/oct/04/martin-scorsese-says-marvel-movies-are-not-cinema?fbclid=IwAR3kKvhPWrStEctCAMaapI-t7AWP13VzKnl9RlNQPJ-KAm4U083cAAipSVM">The Guardian</a>. “Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”
As noted by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/martin-scorsese-shreds-marvel-movies-says-theyre-not-cinema">The Daily Wire</a>, famed director James Cameron is also not a fan of the Marvel universe.
“I’m hoping we’ll start getting ‘Avenger’ fatigue here pretty soon,” Cameron said <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/james-cameron-right-about-superhero-movies-enough-paul-bois">IndieWire</a> in 2018. “It’s just, come on guys, there are other stories to tell besides hypergonadal males (men who produce too much testosterone) without families doing death-defying things for two hours and wrecking cities in the process. It’s like, oy!”
“I’ve found myself as a father of five starting to think about what would an ‘Avatar’ story be like if it was a family drama. What if it was ‘The Godfather?&#8217;” Cameron continued. “It’s a generational family saga. That’s very different than the first film. There’s still the same setting and the same respect for the shock of the new. We still want to show you things that you haven’t even seen or imagined, but the story is very different.”
“It’s a continuation of the same characters … but what happens when warriors who are willing to go on suicide charges and leap off cliffs, what happens when they grow up and have their own kids?&#8221; he added.
Though Scorsese is in no rush to see &#8220;Joker,&#8221; he did enjoyed &#8220;Parasite.&#8221;
&#8220;Scorsese was circumspect when asked about movies from the past year that he had enjoyed, pleading modesty and the fact that he still needed to watch a lot of films, though he did say he had seen and liked Bong Joon Ho’s dark satire &#8216;Parasite,'&#8221; the Times noted.

Martin Scorsese Takes Swipe At Todd Phillips’ ‘Joker,’ A Film He Passed Up Producing

Joker

In a recent episode of Variety’s “Actors on Actors,” Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson came to the defense of Marvel movies in light of the ongoing back and forth about “cinema” that all began with legendary director Martin Scorsese.
As the name implies, “Actors on Actors” is a YouTube series in which two actors interview each other about recent projects in a casual setting.
Johansson first brought up the Marvel versus “cinema” debate, saying that several people have mentioned that “a couple of extremely esteemed directors” have been “really vocal” about blockbuster Marvel movies:
<blockquote>At first I thought, “That seems kind of old-fashioned.” Somebody sort of had to explain it to me because it seemed so, kind of, disappointing and sad in a way – and then they said, “No, I think that what these people are saying is that in the actual theater, there&#8217;s not a lot of room for different kinds of movies, or smaller movies, or independent movies because the theater is actually just taken up by these huge blockbuster movies, and there’s actually no space for these movies.”</blockquote>
Johansson added that she then contemplated the consumption of media, especially in light of streaming services and technology, and that the “cinematic experience &#8230; has changed for people.”
Evans then offered his take on the issue, first noting that “original content inspires original content,” and that television is where such content is blossoming at the moment.
He then spoke directly to the issue:
<blockquote>I just believe there’s room at the table for all of it, you know what I mean? Like, it&#8217;s like trying to say a certain type of music isn&#8217;t music. Well, why bother? Who are you to say that? It just feels like a strange, you know – same team, same team.</blockquote>
<iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZKSzrJkHtVg?start=1040" width="720" height="385" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
In October, director Martin Scorsese spoke with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/samuel-l-jackson-responds-to-scorsese-everybody-doesnt-like-his-stuff-either-its-okay">Empire Magazine</a>, and compared Marvel movies to “theme parks.”
“I don’t see them. I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema,” Scorsese said. “Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”
His remarks have been met with backlash from Marvel fans, as well as actors and directors who have participated in various Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films. Other notable individuals have sided with Scorsese.
Paul Rudd, who plays Scott Lang in the MCU, offered perhaps the most robust <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/benedict-cumberbatch-and-paul-rudd-offer-different-opinions-on-the-marvel-as-cinema-debate">defense</a> of Marvel as “cinema,” telling Howard Stern:
<blockquote>Ultimately, you really care about relationships with people. It isn’t all just special effects-driven action – whatever genre it falls into – you want to see people in human behavior and talking to each other. I know that when we’re working on these things, we care about the characters. In “Ant-Man,” I have a whole relationship with my daughter, and the human struggles of being a superhero. I think we’re trying to deal with human issues and things that are relatable, that are not just rides.</blockquote>
Scorsese later <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/benedict-cumberbatch-and-paul-rudd-offer-different-opinions-on-the-marvel-as-cinema-debate">doubled down</a> on his opinion, telling an audience at the London Film Festival: “What has to be protected is the singular experience of experiencing a picture, ideally with an audience. But there’s room for so many others now, and so many other ways. &#8230; The value of a film that’s like a theme park film, for example, the Marvel-type pictures, where the theaters become amusement parks, that’s a different experience. I was saying earlier, it’s not cinema, it’s something else.”

Chris Evans.

WATCH: Chris Evans Dives Into The Marvel As ‘Cinema’ Debate

Chris Evans

Scarlett Johansson

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Directors Joe and Anthony Russo, who directed both &#8220;Avengers: Infinity War&#8221; and &#8220;Avengers: Endgame,&#8221; issued a forceful response to film icon Martin Scorsese&#8217;s claim that Marvel movies are not cinema.
Speaking with <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/avengers-endgame-directors-break-silence-martin-scorsese-attack-1255560?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk">The Hollywood Reporter</a>, the directing duo said their movies have made an “unprecedented impact” around the world, arguing that the Marvel movies had the magic to gather people for an emotional experience.
</div>
&#8220;Ultimately, we define cinema as a film that can bring people together to have a shared, emotional experience,&#8221; Joe Russo told THR.
&#8220;When we look at the box office [of] &#8216;Avengers: Endgame,&#8217; we don&#8217;t see that as a signifier of financial success, we see it as a signifier of emotional success,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;It&#8217;s a movie that had an unprecedented impact on audiences around the world in the way that they shared that narrative and the way that they experienced it. And the emotions they felt watching it.&#8221;
&#8220;But, at the end of the day, what do we know?&#8221; Joe Russo jokingly said. &#8220;We&#8217;re just two guys from Cleveland, Ohio, and &#8216;cinema&#8217; is a New York word. In Cleveland, we call them movies.&#8221;
Anthony Russo added that nobody owns the word &#8220;cinema.&#8221;
&#8220;The other way to think about it, too, is nobody owns cinema. We don&#8217;t own cinema. You don&#8217;t own cinema. Scorsese doesn&#8217;t own cinema,&#8221; Anthony Russo said.
Last month, Scorsese stoked the ire of millions of Marvel fans when he said the MCU movies were more like theme park rides than cinematic experiences. “I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema,” Scorsese <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/martin-scorsese-shreds-marvel-movies-says-theyre-not-cinema">told Empire Magazine</a>. “Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”
After mounting criticism and charges of elitism, Scorsese penned a lengthy and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/martin-scorsese-pens-beautiful-op-ed-defending-cinema-amid-marvel-backlash">heartfelt op-ed</a> in The New York Times where he clarified his position, lamenting how utilitarian the industry has become.
“That’s the nature of <a class="css-1g7m0tk" title="" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/06/business/dealbook/review-the-big-picture-chronicles-a-changing-entertainment-industry.html?module=inline">modern film franchises</a>: <a class="css-1g7m0tk" title="" href="https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a26232993/iron-man-marvel-loan-bankruptcy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">market-researched</a>, <a class="css-1g7m0tk" title="" href="https://screenrant.com/avengers-endgame-runtime-3-hours-reactions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">audience-tested</a>, vetted, modified, revetted and remodified until they’re ready for consumption,” wrote Scorsese. “In the past 20 years, as we all know, the movie business has changed on all fronts. But the most ominous change has happened stealthily and under cover of night: the gradual but steady elimination of risk. Many films today are perfect products manufactured for immediate consumption. Many of them are well made by teams of talented individuals. All the same, they lack something essential to cinema: the unifying vision of an individual artist. Because, of course, the individual artist is the riskiest factor of all.”
Last week, while receiving the Kirk Douglass Award at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, the director <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/its-all-an-illusion-scorsese-warns-against-algorithms-formulas-and-business-calculations-over-artistic-expression">also warned against</a> the illusion of an industry that runs on algorithms and formulas.
“I realize that commitment and dedication to the art form are always rare so, you know, when you see it, this incredible commitment and dedication, please don’t take it for granted,” Scorsese told the audience. “Today, it’s a new world, of course, and we have to be extra vigilant. Some actually believe that these qualities that I’m talking about can be replaced by algorithms and formulas and business calculations but please remember it’s all an illusion because there’s no substitute for individual or artistic expression as Kirk Douglas knew and as he expressed through his long film career.”

#IMDboat At San Diego Comic-Con 2019: Day Three

‘Avengers’ Directors Respond To Martin Scorsese: ‘Nobody Owns Cinema’

After doubling-down on his stance against the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the homogenization of blockbusters in general, film icon Martin Scorsese warned against the current trend of trusting algorithms, formulas, and business calculations over artistic expression.
While receiving the Kirk Douglass Award at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, Martin Scorsese spoke mostly about his love of film before delivering a warning against treating the artistic process like a utilitarian exercise.
&#8220;I realize that commitment and dedication to the art form are always rare so, you know, when you see it, this incredible commitment and dedication, please don’t take it for granted,&#8221; Scorsese told the audience. &#8220;Today, it&#8217;s a new world, of course, and we have to be extra vigilant. Some actually believe that these qualities that I’m talking about can be replaced by algorithms and formulas and business calculations but please remember it’s all an illusion because there’s no substitute for individual or artistic expression as Kirk Douglas knew and as he expressed through his long film career.&#8221;
Throughout the past few weeks, Scorsese&#8217;s critics (primarily those in the pro-MCU crowd) have been denouncing the director as an elitist. Actor Leo DiCaprio, however, painted a different picture while presenting him with the award, describing as a gracious man who always appreciates the artistic merits of those working under him.
“One of the most remarkable things about Martin Scorsese — besides being one of our greatest filmmakers — is the generosity that he exudes to everybody on set, from his creative team to his crew and especially the actors that he works with,&#8221; said DiCaprio. &#8220;He treats each and every one of us as a real collaborator and that is not easily said. You can say you’re a collaborator but Marty truly wants to know what you have to say as an artist. These collaborations have been forged through the years.&#8221;
Last month, Scorsese stoked the ire of millions of Marvel fans when he said the MCU movies were more like theme park rides than cinematic experiences.“I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema,” Scorsese <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/martin-scorsese-shreds-marvel-movies-says-theyre-not-cinema">told Empire Magazine</a>. “Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”
After mounting criticism and charges of elitism, Scorsese penned a lengthy and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/martin-scorsese-pens-beautiful-op-ed-defending-cinema-amid-marvel-backlash">heartfelt op-ed</a> in The New York Times where he clarified his position, lamenting how utilitarian the industry has become.
“That’s the nature of <a class="css-1g7m0tk" title="" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/06/business/dealbook/review-the-big-picture-chronicles-a-changing-entertainment-industry.html?module=inline">modern film franchises</a>: <a class="css-1g7m0tk" title="" href="https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a26232993/iron-man-marvel-loan-bankruptcy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">market-researched</a>, <a class="css-1g7m0tk" title="" href="https://screenrant.com/avengers-endgame-runtime-3-hours-reactions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">audience-tested</a>, vetted, modified, revetted and remodified until they’re ready for consumption,” wrote Scorsese. “In the past 20 years, as we all know, the movie business has changed on all fronts. But the most ominous change has happened stealthily and under cover of night: the gradual but steady elimination of risk. Many films today are perfect products manufactured for immediate consumption. Many of them are well made by teams of talented individuals. All the same, they lack something essential to cinema: the unifying vision of an individual artist. Because, of course, the individual artist is the riskiest factor of all.”

Santa Barbara International Film Festival – Kirk Douglas Award Honoring Martin Scorsese

‘It’s All An Illusion’: Scorsese Warns Against Algorithms, Formulas, And Business Calculations Over Artistic Expression

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