10 Martin Scorsese scenes that should be deleted from history

Sykes banishes Oscar – ‘Shark Tale’ (Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron, Rob Letterman, 2004)

Animation has never been a realm that Scorsese has been involved in, which made it surprising that he popped up as one of the voices in Shark Tale. Considering that Pixar is easily the most critically beloved of the American film animation studios, it’s strange that Scorsese was so gung-ho about being in a DreamWorks Animation title, appearing as Sykes, the owner of the Whale Wash, whom the protagonist Oscar, voiced by Will Smith, owes money to.

There’s an extended scene in which Sykes shakes down Oscar in a moment that is clearly intended to be an homage to Scorsese’s gangster films, specifically Casino and Goodfellas, and it’s not a coincidence that Robert De Niro also had a voice role in the film. There’s no reason that it should be here, as it’s not like any kids in the audience would have picked up on these homages.

Red Rodriguez explains cancellation – ‘Outcome’ (Jonah Hill, 2026)

Jonah Hill gave what may be his greatest performance ever in The Wolf of Wall Street, and also got Scorsese to produce his directorial debut, Mid90s. Unfortunately, his subsequent effort as a director, Outcome, was a middling misfire, even if Scorsese has a pretty fun role as the washed-up talent agent Red Rodriguez.

The film stars Keanu Reeves as the likeable movie star Reef Hawk, who starts getting blackmailed and threatened with the possibility of being ‘cancelled’ because of a video of him. It’s painfully obvious that Hill was trying to say something about cancel culture after he was briefly subjected to backlash, and is using Reef as a stand-in for himself. Not even Scorsese is enough for Outcome to feel like a pathetic vanity project, which makes it unsurprising that it was dumped on Apple TV with almost no fanfare.

Scorsese and James Cameron seek advice – ‘The Muse’ (Albert Brooks, 1999)

Albert Brooks has successfully developed scathing, yet empathetic comedies about the human experience with classics like Defending Your Life and Lost in America, but The Muse is the rare instance in which he missed the mark. In it, Brooks plays a Hollywood screenwriter who seeks out the help of a muse (played by Sharon Stone), who has helped various Hollywood directors return to their creative renaissances.

While his other films addressed universal themes that anyone could relate to, The Muse feels like a massive inside joke that is only intended for the elite of Hollywood. Scorsese and James Cameron play versions of themselves during a scene in which they seek advice, but it doesn’t say anything substantial about either of them as individual directors, and although the former has successfully played himself in some parts, he’s generally better when cast as new and original characters.

A bizarre cameo – ‘One Direction: This Is Us’ (Morgan Spurlock, 2013)

Scorsese has a long history of directing music documentaries, as his 1978 classic The Last Waltz brilliantly captured the last performance ever by The Band, and has also gone on to direct documentaries about Bob Dylan, George Harrison, and The Rolling Stones, but he also produced a film about One Direction from director Morgan Spurlock.

While Scorsese’s interested in a pop group like One Direction is unusual, as he tends to gravitate towards legitimately brilliant musicians with a strong impact on popular culture, and not disposable commercial music, his cameo in One Direction: This Is Us is even stranger, as the film is clearly aimed at an audience of mostly teenage girls who like the band. It’s unlikely that any of them would have seen any of Scorsese’s films, let alone be able to recognise him, making his appearance completely unnecessary.

The retrospective interview – ‘Bad 25’ (Spike Lee, 2002)

Scorsese was foundational in the career of Michael Jackson because he directed the music video for Bad, which is one of the most famous in history. While it should be stated that, in fairness to Scorsese, he worked with Jackson before any of the allegations about his paedophilia surfaced, he did briefly appear in Spike Lee’s documentary celebrating the 25th anniversary of the music video’s release.

The director doesn’t really talk much about Jackson, as he’s mostly there to discuss his process with Lee, with whom he has always been friendly. However, anything Jackson-related tends to age poorly these days, especially when considering that Lee has adamantly defended the late artist and disregarded the accounts of his victims. He will likely never admit to any of Jackson’s wrongdoings, and Scorsese was unfortunately wrapped up in being part of the director’s extremely one-note documentary about the subject.

The entire pilot – ‘Vinyl’ (2016, Martin Scorsese)

HBO has had a close relationship with Martin Scorsese ever since he served as an executive producer on and directed the pilot of Boardwalk Empire, the crime epic that starred Steve Buscemi. The show was created by Terrence Winter, who also wrote The Wolf of Wall Street, and he convinced Scorsese to direct the pilot for his new show Vinyl, which explored rock ’n’ roll journalism in the 1970s.

Scorsese can’t be blamed for doing his best with a script that wasn’t polished, but Vinyl felt like a hagiographic homage to the ‘70s made by boomers who couldn’t look past their own nostalgia. When considering that HBO has always been on the cutting edge of prestige television, ensuring that any of their new shows feel like a true cultural event, it’s pretty baffling that Vinyl got the greenlight, even if it was cancelled after one season.

The peculiar doctor – ‘Campus Code’ (Cathy Scorsese and Kenneth M Waddell, 2015)

Scorsese joined Ray Liotta for a cameo in the 2015 science fiction film Campus Code, directed by the former’s daughter Cathy, and as there would be no other reason for him to do so, his brief appearance as a doctor is pretty distracting, given that the rest of the cast was filled with unknowns.

What’s most disappointing about this scene is that it was the only time that Scorsese worked with Ray Liotta again after Goodfellas, and while he later noted that the timing was always off, it’s disappointing that they weren’t able to work together again prior to Liotta’s tragic death in 2022. Given that he was still regularly appearing in gangster films like The Many Saints of Newark, it’s easy to imagine that he could have played a role in The Irishman alongside his Goodfellas co-stars, De Niro and Joe Pesci.

‘Return to Queen’s Boulevard’ – ‘Entourage’ (Doug Ellin, 2009)

HBO has produced a number of the greatest television shows ever, but Entourage isn’t one of them. While it was always seen as a crude satire about the hijinks of various narcissistic actors in Hollywood, it has aged poorly as a shallow, unrealistic exploration of how the industry works that lionises the type of selfish people who don’t actually care about filmmaking.

That Entourage ran for eight seasons is almost as surprising as the fact that it got cameos from major actors and directors, including Scorsese, who appeared in one episode from 2009 as himself. He has had much better luck when appearing on other HBO shows, as he has a hilarious role on Curb Your Enthusiasm when Larry David wreaks havoc on the set of his new gangster film after he is surprisingly cast for a major role.

“I gave you all the clues” – ‘The Snowman’ (Tomas Alfredson, 2017)

Not all of the films that Scorsese produced seem like he actually watched them, which is certainly true in the case of The Snowman, a bizarre detective thriller from 2017 that starred Michael Fassbender and JK Simmons. While it was shocking that the film was so incompetent, considering that it was from Tomas Alfredson, the brilliant director of Let the Right One In and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, the filmmaker later revealed that he wasn’t allowed to finish editing and shooting before the studio decided to schedule a release date.

The most valuable aspect of The Snowman is a moment where the serial killer leaves a mysterious note that reads “I gave you all the clues”, which became an Internet meme, even though almost no one actually saw the film. However, it’s possible that there were a few who checked it out because they saw Scorsese’s name in the credits.

The ‘Goodfellas’ homage – ‘The Family’ (Luc Besson, 2013)

Luc Besson isn’t just a terrible person who has been accused of serious crimes, but a complete hack who has coasted on the acclaim for two great films he made in the ‘90s. He doesn’t have many talents, but he’s particularly ill-suited for comedy, which made the 2013 satire one of his most painful films to watch. The Family stars Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer as members of the mafia who take their kids with them when they go into witness protection, and Scorsese was listed as a producer on the film.

Although there are many cringe-inducing homages to Scorsese’s films, one moment that seemingly breaks the logic of the story is when the family sits down to watch Goodfellas, which features De Niro himself. To his credit, Scorsese hasn’t produced any other Besson films since the charges against him went public.