The Martin Scorsese movie almost ruined by the studio: “It was extremely difficult”
Studio interference has ruined countless movies throughout Hollywood history. However, not even the grubby fingerprints of one of the industry’s most notorious producers could prevent Martin Scorsese from delivering yet another exercise in cinematic excellence.
The historical epic Gangs of New York may have arrived in cinemas in December of 2002, but Scorsese’s involvement with the project lasted decades. Having first read Herbert Asbury’s The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld in 1970, the acclaimed director knew it would make for an excellent feature film and eventually purchased the rights to the book nine years later.
However, the vast expense proved to be a near-insurmountable hurdle, with Universal, Disney, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, and MGM all turning down the chance to foot the bill until Scorsese reached a deal with the disgraced Harvey Weinstein. Even though he already had a reputation for getting a little too involved with many projects under his watch, the Taxi Driver and Goodfellas filmmaker’s desire to make Gangs of New York at any cost saw him partner with Weinstein, which he would come to regret.
During an interview with GQ, Scorsese revealed that the incessant desire to trim down the running time almost made him turn his back on cinema altogether: “I realised that I couldn’t work if I had to make films that way ever again. If that was the only way that I was able to be allowed to make films, then I’d have to stop,” he said. “Because the results weren’t satisfying. It was, at times, extremely difficult, and I wouldn’t survive it. I’d be dead. And so I decided it was over, really.”
Journalist Jeffrey Wells would corroborate the reports of behind-the-scenes battles, having attended an early screening of Gangs of New York, which was ultimately released with a running time of 167 minutes: “The workprint version is longer by roughly 30 minutes, and more filled out and expressive as a result, but that’s not the thing,” he explained. “The main distinction for me is that it’s plainer and therefore more cinematic, as it doesn’t use the narration track that, in my view, pollutes the official version.”
Hinting towards Scorsese’s opposition to Weinstein’s cuts, Wells added: “I don’t believe Scorsese for a second when he says the theatrical version coming out this Friday is the one that bears his personal stamp of preference,” before suggesting “Harvey’s mitts are all over this puppy.”
Never one to resist stroking his own ego prior to his fall from grace, Weinstein even bragged to Vulture that he’d taken the scissors to the film: “So Marty presents the final cut of the movie to me as a final-cut director, and it’s three hours and 36 minutes. If you thought there was action in Gangs of New York, the movie, you should have seen that editing room! But we got the movie down to two hours and 36.”
Scorsese may largely be against the idea of revisiting his back catalogue for a director’s cut, but with an hour of footage having been excised, it’s clear there’s a much longer and potentially even better version of Gangs of New York in the vault somewhere.
