The movie Martin Scorsese hated making: “It was highly unpleasant”
Since his first venture into feature filmmaking over 50 years ago, Martin Scorsese has secured a place as one of the most beloved directors in film history. After winning the Palme d’Or for his 1976 cult classic Taxi Driver, the director has cultivated a stylish filmography dominated by themes of masculinity, mobs, and money.
Between his distinctive style and collaborative relationships with Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, Scorsese has maintained his grip on film fans for half a century. This is partly down to his genuine love for cinema – from disparaging the money-grabbing Marvel Cinematic Universe to founding The Film Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to film preservation and restoration; Scorsese has committed his entire life to the art of film.
His love for cinema has always shone through in his output, which appeals to mainstream audiences and devoted film fanatics alike. He’s a master of on-screen entertainment, from creating one of the most famous anti-heroes of all time in Travis Bickle to making a three-hour runtime feel short with The Wolf of Wall Street. Despite his enduring love for the cinematic art form, there was one movie Scorsese simply didn’t enjoy making.
In an interview to promote his epic passion project Silence for The Telegraph, Scorsese revealed the movie that he struggled with was his 2006 mob thriller, The Departed. Based on the Boston Winter Hill Gang and the 2002 Hong Kong thriller Internal Affairs, the film follows Leonardo DiCaprio as he goes undercover in Boston’s Irish Mob, led by Jack Nicholson’s Frank Costello. Scorsese described the film as “Moral Ground Zero”, stating: “All the characters killed at the end, basically everyone, and there was no place to go, after that.”
The film earned over $290million at the box office and won Scorsese two of the most coveted accolades in film – the ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’ titles at the Academy Awards. The Departed remains Scorsese’s only directorial Oscar win. Despite the critical and commercial acclaim, the filmmaker has a particularly poor experience during the process of production. He shared, “You know, I hardly did any press for that film. I was tired of it. I felt it was maddening.”
This open disdain for the production process of the thrilling gangster feature might come as a surprise, particularly as Scorsese was in his element – directing a mob-based movie with long-time collaborator DiCaprio. Despite his love for the story, The Departed marked the director’s 21st feature film, and Scorsese was growing weary of going through the motions of the production and press process.
He explained: “I mean, I like the picture, but the process of making it, particularly in the post-production, was highly unpleasant. I said, I don’t care how much I’m being paid; it’ll kill me. I’ll die. Very simply.”
It’s understandable that even a masterful filmmaker like Scorsese would experience burnout or exhaustion so many years into his career. His honesty about the production process also demonstrates his continuing love for the art of cinema itself rather than the surrounding industry – Scorsese shows little concern for the awards or press or profits. Instead, he is concerned with making films for the enjoyment of himself and his audience.
