Trevor Hogg profiles the career of legendary American filmmaker Martin Scorsese in the third of a five part feature… read parts one and two.
When he was approached by Paul Newman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), who wanted to revise his signature role of Fast Eddie Felson from The Hustler (1961), Martin Scorsese was skeptical about the project. “I had a lot of reservations about it,” admitted the filmmaker of the planned cinematic adaptation of The Color of Money (1986) by novelist Walter Tevis. “I felt it was a literal sequel. There were even a few minutes of film inserted in it from the first picture. It had its own merits, but it certainly wasn’t the kind of thing I wanted to do.” A meeting was held in New York between the acting legend and the director where the decision was made to keep the name of the book but to change the story; assigned the task of writing the screenplay was author Richard Price. “To write the script, I spent a lot of time traveling with pool hustlers,” revealed Price who routinely met with Newman and Scorsese. “In the writing sessions, it was the three of us constantly reworking, constantly coming up with and batting ideas back and forth,” remarked Scorsese of the script development for the $14 million production. “Eventually, the writing sessions took on the aspects of rehearsals. So by the time we did the picture, I’d already had two weeks of rehearsal – it was the most preplanned film I had ever made.”
Explaining how he viewed the character of Felson, Martin Scorsese said, “In twenty-five years he’s become a sharpie and hustler of a different type. He doesn’t play pool anymore; he doesn’t have the guts to do that. Be he sees young talent, takes it, and makes money from it. He takes this young kid under his wing and corrupts him. And then somewhere along the road, in the education process, he reeducates himself and decides to play again. It’s about a man who changes his mind at the age of fifty-two.” Grossing $52 million domestically, the drama stars Paul Newman, Tom Cruise (Risky Business), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (The Abyss), Helen Shaver (Who Has Seen the Wind), Forest Whitaker (The Crying Game), and John Turturro (Miller’s Crossing). At the Academy Awards The Color of Money won Best Actor (Paul Newman) and received nominations for Best Supporting Actress (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), Best Art Direction & Set Decoration, and Best Adapted Screenplay. The Golden Globes nominated Paul Newman for Best Actor – Drama and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio for Best Supporting Actress. The National Board of Review lauded Paul Newman with the award for Best Actor.
Collaborating with American songwriter and performer Michael Jackson, Martin Scorsese helmed a music video for the title track of Bad (1987). The dance choreography, which was inspired by the musical West Side Story (1961), takes place in a New York City subway station. Receiving a nomination at the 1988 MTV Video Music Awards, the elaborate 18-minute production stars up-and-comer Wesley Snipes (Blade) performing with Jackson.
Turning down offers from Universal to direct Sea of Love (1989) and White Palace (1990), Martin Scorsese chose to revive a controversial project. Back in 1972, actress Barbara Hershey (Hoosiers) gave the native of Flushing, New York, a copy of the book called The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) by Nikos Kazantzakis. Rising costs and religious protests about the controversial sequence where the crucified messiah imagines himself having children with Mary Magdalene and the sisters of Lazarus caused Paramount to cancel the original 1983 production which was to star Aidan Quinn (Blink). Undaunted by the setback, Martin Scorsese’s agent at the time, Harry Ufland, kept shopping the religious tale to other studios with Universal finally agreeing to finance it in 1987. “He’s God. He’s not deluded,” stated the director. “I think Kazantzakis thought that, I think the movie says that, and I know that I believe that. The beauty of Kazantzakis’ concept is that Jesus has to put up with everything we go through, all the doubts, fears, and anger.” Addressing the dream scene which was decreed to be blasphemy by members of the Christian community, Scorsese said, “The one sexual thing the priests told Catholic boys they could not be held responsible for was nocturnal emission. It was like an involuntary fantasy. And with Jesus it’s the same thing. How can you hold him responsible for this fantasy? Of course, Catholic boys were taught that, if you entertained fantasy for awhile, it became an occasion for sin.”
Cast in the $7 million production are Willem Dafoe (Platoon), Harvey Keitel (The Duelists), Barbara Hershey, Harry Dean Stanton (Alien), David Bowie (The Prestige), Verna Bloom (Animal House), Victor Argo (The Pick-up Artist), Randy Danson (The Scenic Route) and Peggy Gormley (Bad Lieutenant). “I did want to break away from the sound of the old biblical epics to make the dialogue plainer, more contemporary,” explained Martin Scorsese. “One of the elements we kept from the book is that Lazarus never quite heals properly.” In regards to the famous Biblical figure raised from the dead by Jesus, the director remarked, “It is all done with a sense of humour. And if you see it with an audience, they’re going with it.” As for who was responsible for the execution of Jesus, Scorsese said, “The whole point of the movie is that nobody is to blame, not even the Romans. It’s all part of the [divine] plan.” Earning $8 million domestically, The Last Temptation of Christ resulted in Martin Scorsese contending for Best Director at the Oscars. The period drama received Golden Globe nominations for Best Original Score and Best Supporting Actress (Barbara Hershey); while at the Razzie Awards, Harvey Keitel competed for Worst Supporting Actor.
Collaborating with colleagues Woody Allen and Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese produced one of three segments featured in a $15 million anthology titled New York Stories (1989). Allen’s only creative stipulations were that the tales had to take place in New York City and that the projects abide by budget and schedule. Assembling his contribution called Life Lessons allowed the director to realize a decade and half old ambition. “It tells the end of an affair between a famous painter, about 50, and his young assistant, whom he uses as a subject for his work,” said Martin Scorsese. “It’s based on the diaries of Anna Polina, one of Dostoyevsky’s students.” Originally the moviemaker wanted to make the main character a writer but Richard Price convinced Scorsese to make him a painter. Starring in the drama which is “…about the difficulties of defining love.” are Nick Nolte (The Good Thief), Rosanne Arquette (Le grand blue), Richard Price, and Martin Scorsese. “The moment she says she’s leaving, he starts to paint really well. Even in the student/teacher relationship, there are creative jealousies and a constant testing of each other. I always find it interesting when the pupil has to move on.” Screened out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival, New York Stories earned $11 million at the domestic box office.
Next on the cinematic agenda for Martin Scorsese the production of the 20 minute documentary Made in Milan (1990); it revolves around fashion designer Giorgio Amani reflecting on fashion, his family heritage, and the city of Milan while preparing for a show.
Returning to feature filmmaking, Scorsese helmed a project that proved he could make art and money. “I read a review of Wiseguy back when I was directing The Color of Money in Chicago, and it said something about this character, Henry Hill, having access to many different levels of organized crime because he was somewhat of an outsider,” remarked Martin Scorsese who hired the author of the book, Nicholas Pileggi, to co-write the screenplay about the rise and fall of three gangsters played by Ray Liotta (Narc), Robert De Niro (Once Upon a Time in America) and Joe Pesci (Home Alone). “I knew from the beginning that I wanted Ray Liotta to play Henry Hill. Mike Ovitz [his agent at the time] was helpful in protecting the work and working it out so that the studio and I each got what we wanted. We’re not talking about a blockbuster. We’re talking about something which, if handled properly, can make some money.” Scorsese could relate to the character played by Liotta. “Henry [Hill] says that as far back as he can remember he wanted to be a gangster. From the moment I enrolled in NYU film school, I knew I wanted to be a director. Within a year I was planning my first feature.” Because a television series and a movie by Brian De Palma (The Untouchables) shared the same name as the source material, the cinematic adaptation was renamed Goodfellas (1990). “I was more concerned with showing a lifestyle and using Henry Hill as basically a guide through it.” The filmmaker saw the film as an opportunity to utilize a different perspective. “I liked the everyday banality of it; daily life in the Mafia on the lower echelons as opposed to the bosses of the crime families.”
“I wanted Goodfellas to move as fast as a trailer,” stated Martin Scorsese. “I usually put notes on the sides of the script, how the camera should move. I wanted lots of movement and I wanted it throughout the whole picture.” The man behind the camera was mentally editing as he was filming. “The shots were designed so that I knew where the cuts were going to be.” Freeze frames were used for dramatic effect. “Images would stop; a point was being made in his [Hill’s] life.” Commenting on the lifestyle being portrayed on the big screen, Scorsese remarked, “I always quote Joe Pesci, who pointed out that wiseguys have a life cycle – or an enjoyment cycle – of maybe eight or ten years, before they either get killed or go to jail and start that long process of going in and out like a revolving door.” The famous restaurant scene where Pesci states, “What’s so funny about me?” to Ray Liotta was inspired by real life. “It’s based on something that happened to Joe. He got out of it the same way – by taking the chance and saying, ‘Oh, come on, knock it off.’ The gentleman threatening him was a friend, [but] a dangerous person.” Performing with Liotta, Pesci, and De Niro in the $25 million production are Lorraine Bracco (Radio Flyer), Paul Sorvino (The Cooler), Frank Sivero (The Wedding Singer), Tony Darrow (Small Time Crooks), and Catherine Scorsese.
“People got so angry that they stormed out of the theatre. They thought it was an outrage that I made these people so attractive,” said Martin Scorsese. “These guys are in business to make money, not to kill people, not to create mayhem.” Goodfellas would gross $47 million domestically and at the Academy Awards would win Best Supporting Actor (Joe Pesci) while contending for Best Supporting Actress (Lorraine Bracco), Best Picture, Best Director, Best Editing, and Best Adapted Screenplay. The gangster tale was lauded at the BAFTAs for Best Costume Design, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Film, and Best Adapted Screenplay; it also competed for Best Actor (Robert De Niro) and Best Cinematography; the Golden Globes handed out nominations for Best Director, Best Picture – Drama, Best Supporting Actor (Joe Pesci), Best Supporting Actress (Lorraine Bracco), and Best Screenplay. Martin Scorsese received a Directors Guild of America Award nomination; the National Society of Film Critics presented awards for Best Film and Best Director, and the National Board of Review selected Joe Pesci for Best Supporting Actor. “When I lost for Raging Bull,” reflected Scorsese, “that’s when I realized what my place in the system would be, if I’d survived at all: on the outside looking in. The Academy sent out a very strong message to the people who made Goodfellas and The Grifters [served as a producer], no matter how talented they are, they might get some recognition, but they will not get the award.” In 2000, Goodfellas was inducted into the National Film Registry.
Martin Scorsese initially balked at the idea of helming a remake of a 1962 thriller that stars Robert Mitchum (Ryan’s Daughter) as a revengeful ex-convict who terrorizes the family of his former attorney, portrayed by Gregory Peck (To Kill a Mockingbird). “Bob De Niro and Spielberg [War Horse] asked me to read the script while I was finishing up Goodfellas and by the end of editing the film, I had read Cape Fear [1991] three times. And three times I hated it,” admitted the director. “I thought the family was too clichéd, too happy and then comes along a bogeyman to scare them. They were like Martians to me. I was rooting for Max to get them.” Spielberg had Martin Scorsese rewrite the script which took inspiration from the 1962 screenplay written by John Webb and the book by author John D. MacDonald. “Cady was the malignant spirit of the guilt in the family – the avenging angel,” observed the director regarding the purpose of the ex-convict character. “Punishment for everything you felt sexually. It is the basic moral battleground of moral ethics.” Filmmaker Paul Schrader (American Gigolo) understood the difficulties that his colleague had with the $34 million project. “Cape Fear was the first time he’d worked with such a large budget since New York, New York [1977],” remarked Schrader, “and it demanded an audience level and mainstream sensibility that he’s not completely comfortable with.”
Taking over the roles made famous by Mitchum and Peck (both of whom make cameo appearances) are Robert De Niro and Nick Nolte who perform with Jessica Lange (Blue Sky), Juliette Lewis (Natural Born Killers), Joe Don Baker (GoldenEye), Martin Balsm (12 Angry Men), Illeana Douglas (Stir of Echoes), and Fred Thompson (The Hunt for Red October). Explaining his reasoning for doing the picture, Martin Scorsese said, “Would it be a different risk if every picture I made was about Italian Americans in New York? I don’t think so. Because they’d say, ‘That’s all he can do.’ So I’m trying to stretch.” The experimentation with mainstream material paid off for Scorsese as the thriller grossed $183 million worldwide and received Oscar nominations for Best Actor (Robert De Niro) and Best Supporting Actress (Juliette Lewis). At the BAFTAs, Cape Fear contended for Best Editing and Best Cinematography; while the Golden Globes nominated it for Best Actor – Drama (Robert De Niro) and Best Supporting Actress (Juliette Lewis). Martin Scorsese competed for the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival and Juliette Lewis won Most Promising Actress at the Chicago Film Critics Association Awards.
Cinematically adapting the novel The Age of Innocence (1993) penned by Edith Warton was next on the agenda for Martin Scorsese. In 1870s New York, affluent lawyer Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis) finds his pending marriage to May Welland (Winona Ryder) threatened by his sexual attraction to the newly arrived Countess Ellen Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer). The period drama allowed the director the opportunity to experiment with different filmmaking techniques such as replacing the fading in and out of black at the beginning and ending of scenes with colours like red and yellow. “I was interested in the use of colour like brushstrokes throughout the film,” stated Scorsese who also moved away from the tradition of using straight cut editing between images. “Besides the dissolves that were indicated in the script, I stumbled upon the idea of shortening many of the shots that I took.” There is a particular dissolve which stands out to the moviemaker. “The one I like the most is a very simple one: the dinner scene in France during the honeymoon montage. It’s a high angle of the table, and the camera booms down and dissolves as the camera is going over the table and the food, and then it tilts up and you see Jonathan Pryce and Daniel Day-Lewis talking.” The New Yorker added, “That is one of the best ones of all because it looks like an Impressionist painting.”
“I didn’t want to develop the film to a climatic sequence and handle that sequence in a normal narrative dramatic style,” stated Martin Scorsese. “The dinner party could have been done very straight – and could have been just as effective with everybody smiling and looking at him [Newland Archer] and the next thing he says goodbye to Ellen…We could have played dramatically, but I wanted to display it, like he’s in a display case, and have the prose add that extra dramatic punch.” Assembling the scenes for the $34 million production was not always an easy matter for the director. “One of the hardest scenes to cut was when he [Archer] goes to Mrs. Mingott [Miriam Margolyes] to talk about moving up the wedding and she tells him about Ellen’s past life in Europe. We had a little problem with who to be on. Basically, Mrs. Mingott is giving us exposition but we need to see the effect on him. It looks simple, but it wasn’t.” Questioned as to why he chose to have the picture narrated in the third person by Joanne Woodward (The Three Faces of Eve), Scorsese answered, “I wanted to give the audience the impression of the feelings I had when I read the book.” The moviemaker explained further, “I loved that idea of a female voice, taking us through, very nicely, and setting us up for the fall.” Scorsese played around with the perspective of the camera. “I think you make up your own set of rules for each one in the terms of the subjectivity of the piece. In fact, the ball sequence begins with the narrator explaining who the people are, but ends subjectively: May looks up into the camera and who’s standing there? It’s Archer.”
Inserting the sound into the period picture presented certain difficulties for Martin Scorsese. “In certain places this film is a little hard because it’s not a modern world and you can’t play with the sounds like screeches of cars, sirens, telephones ringing, and jet plane noises, that I usually like to play with.” Performing in The Age of Innocence are Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood), Michelle Pfeiffer (Batman Returns), Winona Ryder (Reality Bites), Miriam Margolyes (Babe), Richard E. Grant (Gosford Park), Alec McCowen (Frenzy), Geraldine Chaplin (Doctor Zhivago), Mary Beth Hurt (The World According to Garp), Robert Sean Leonard (Dead Poets Society), Jonathan Pryce (Brazil), and Stuart Wilson (Enemy of the State). Grossing $32 million domestically, the film won Best Costume Design and contended for Best Supporting Actress (Winona Ryder), Best Art Direction & Set Decoration, Best Original Score, and Best Adapted Screenplay at the Academy Awards; the BAFTAs presented it with Best Supporting Actress (Miriam Margolyes) along with nominations for Best Supporting Actress (Winona Ryder), Best Cinematography and Best Production Design. The Golden Globes lauded The Age of Innocence with Best Supporting Actress (Winona Ryder) as well as nominations for Best Director, Best Picture – Drama, and Best Actress – Drama (Michelle Pfeiffer). Martin Scorsese received a Directors Guild of American Award nomination; the National Board of Review rewarded him with Best Director and Winona Ryder with Best Supporting Actress.
Working with the British Film Institute, the filmmaker hosted a four-hour documentary titled A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995) which was aired in two parts on Channel Four in the UK. To explain the subject matter, Scorsese divided directors into three categories: the illusionists who developed new cinematic techniques (D. W. Griffin, F.W. Murnau), the smugglers who hid subversive messages in their stories (Douglas Sirk, Samuel Fuller), and the iconoclasts who attacked social conventionalism (Orson Welles, Stanley Kubrick).
Inspired by another book written by Nicholas Pileggi, Martin Scorsese reunited with Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci for a gangster tale that takes place in Las Vegas.
Continue to part four.
For more on the director be sure to visit the Martin Scorsese Fansite and ScorseseFilms.com, along with the BFI documentary A Personal Journey with Scorsese Through American Movies.
Short Film Showcase – What’s a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?
Short Film Showcase – The Big Shave
Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.
