Name: Martin Scorsese
Date of Birth: 17 November 1942 Listed as one of 50 people barred from entering Tibet. Disney clashed with Chinese officials over the film Kundun (1997), which Scorsese directed. [19 December 1996] Awarded third annual John Huston Award for Artists Rights by the Artists Rights Foundation. [1995] Presented with a special tribute at the 1976 Telluride Film Festival. It was presented by Michael Powell. [1976] He is a longtime friend and was once a housemate of The Band's Robbie Robertson. He directed The Last Waltz (1978), the documentary of their supposedly last gig which Robertson produced. Robertson later produced the soundtrack for Scorsese's The Color of Money (1986). ... Good friends with editor Thelma Schoonmaker & cinematographer Michael Ballhaus. Introduced Thelma to her husband Michael Powell. Scorsese often quotes Powell as an influence. His name is pronounced "Scor-sez-see". He directed Michael Jackson's Bad (1987) (V) music video. The full length video runs 16 minutes and is in both black & white and color. It is usually shortened down to just the color segment for television. He appears as attached to his pet white Bichon Frise Zoe as he was to his beloved parents - except Zoe is right beside Marty every day in the office. Daughter Francesca Scorsese born. [16 November 1999] John Woo dedicated his action film Dip huet seung hung (1989) ("The Killer") to Scorsese on a commentary he did for the movie's DVD. Daughter Domenica Cameron-Scorsese with Julia Cameron. Taught both Oliver Stone and Spike Lee at NYU. Was at one point going to make a movie about the life of comedian Richard Pryor. He was an altar boy at Old St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was used in his early films I Call First (1967) and Mean Streets (1973). Old St. Patrick's is also where the baptism scene in The Godfather (1972) took place. Was at one point slated to direct Clockers (1995), but for reasons that are not entirely clear, handed the directing chores to his onetime NYU student Spike Lee, while staying on as producer. He was also at one point going to direct Little Shop of Horrors (1986) for David Geffen, with Steven Spielberg as the executive producer. He was ultimately uninvolved, but claims that he wanted to shoot the movie in 3-D. It no doubt would have been a loving homage to Roger Corman, for whom he directed Boxcar Bertha (1972). He took a cameo in his film Taxi Driver (1976) (as a man about to kill his wife) only because the actor who was supposed to play the role was sick on the day the scene was to be shot. Says he is generally uncomfortable in front of the camera. Has a dog named Silas. Is the subject of the song "Martin Scorsese" by alternative band King Missile. Father of actress Cathy Scorsese from his first marriage. Is of Italian-Sicilian descent. Has asthma. Of the three films he's been trying to make since the mid-1970s, he has done two: The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and Gangs of New York (2002). The third film, a biopic of Dean Martin called "Dino", has been on hiatus at Warner Brothers since the late 1990s. Scorsese has a very specific all A-list cast in mind, probably why it has yet to be produced. He wants Tom Hanks to star as Martin, Jim Carrey to play Jerry Lewis, John Travolta to play Frank Sinatra, Hugh Grant to play Peter Lawford, and Adam Sandler to play Joey Bishop. Was voted the 4th greatest director of all time by Entertainment Weekly, making him the only living person in the top 5 and the only working film director in the top 10 (Ingmar Bergman being retired as a filmmaker). Appeared on "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (2000) as a shrill version of himself who comes to regret his decision to cast Larry David as a violent gangster in a movie after David repeatedly ruins the suit he needs to wear as the character. Several characters in his films refer to the legendary (noir) actor John Garfield, star of the original The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), which is also mentioned. He was one of three major directors to have been offered the opportunity to direct Schindler's List (1993) by producer Steven Spielberg, the other two being Roman Polanski and Billy Wilder. Scorsese thought a Jewish filmmaker should direct it; Polanski wasn't yet ready to deal with the painful subject (having lost his mother in the Holocaust); and Wilder (who was retired and who lost his mother and grandmother in the Holocaust) finally told Spielberg that he should do it himself. Because so many of his actors win or are nominated for awards, actors are dying to work with him. The film With Friends Like These... (1998) pokes fun at this very real desire. Both The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and Gangs of New York (2002) were personal passions of his that he had wanted to make since the 1970s. When he first starting considering them, Robert De Niro was in his mind to play the lead characters in both (Jesus Christ in "Temptation" and Bill Cutting in "Gangs"). De Niro ultimately turned down the part in "Temptation" and it was decided he was too old to play Cutting by the time that "Gangs" finally went into production. He has famously collaborated with Robert De Niro in 8 films. Scorsese has said that his creative collaboration with De Niro is very deep and that they can often understand each other without even talking. Their collaboration has had many dry spells (including recently), but Scorsese says he shows almost every script he writes or considers directing to De Niro to see what the actor's thoughts on them are even when De Niro ultimately has no involvement the film. Appeared in an "American Express" ad where he goes to pick up photos of his nephew's birthday party at a drug store, and then proceeds to nervously pick through what's wrong with each picture while trying to get the clueless photo-lab clerk's opinion on them. He proceeds to buy more film with an American Express card and calls the people on the pictures saying they need to reshoot. Scorsese says this funny ad is probably the closest he's come to accurately "playing" himself. Apart from his legendary work as a filmmaker, he has been a vocal supporter of film preservation for almost three decades. His efforts to create a strong public awareness for the work of film archives include The Film Foundation, a non-profit organisation which he started together with other filmmakers. The Film Foundation regularly partners with the American film archives on the restoration of "lost" or endangered films. With this background he has agreed to serve as Honorary President of the Austrian Film Museum in Vienna. Personally spurns the notion of the "director's cut" feeling that once a film has been completed, it should not be further altered in any way. He lost three best director - and best picture - Oscars to leading-man actors turned directors: Robert Redford, Kevin Costner, and Clint Eastwood (Raging Bull (1980) lost to Redford's Ordinary People (1980); Goodfellas (1990) to Costner's Dances with Wolves (1990); The Aviator (2004) to Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby (2004)). On the only two occasions when he was Oscar-nominated as Best Director in years ending in zero, he was beaten by actors making their directorial debuts (Redford and Costner). In 1975, he accepted the Oscar for "Best Actress in a Leading Role" on behalf of Ellen Burstyn, who wasn't present at the awards ceremony. She won for her performance in Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) President of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1998. Has mentioned that he thought Robert De Niro's best performance under his direction was as Rupert Pupkin in The King of Comedy (1982). Ranked #3 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Greatest directors ever!" [2005] His favorite films include: Citizen Kane (1941), The Red Shoes (1948) and Il gattopardo (1963) ("The Leopard"). Was friend, prot?g?, and employee of actor-director John Cassavetes. When asked where audiences would find the next Martin Scorsese, he said to look to Wes Anderson, the young director of Rushmore (1998). Has directed, as of 2008, 6 biopics: Raging Bull (1980), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), Kundun (1997) and The Aviator (2004). He received a Degree ad honorem in "Cinema, TV and Multimedia Production" from the University of Bologna on 26 November 2005. Served as mentor to Georgia Lee and invited her to apprentice for Gangs of New York (2002) in Europe. The 1912 American Mutoscope & Biograph Company short The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) heavily influenced Scorsese in the making of his own gangster films Goodfellas (1990), and Gangs of New York (2002). The film was picked by Scorcese for his 2005 tribute at Beaubourg, centre d'art et de culture Georges Pompidou (1977) in Paris, France. Biograph is the oldest movie company in America and in existence today, headed by producer/director Thomas R. Bond II. Scorsese and Taxi Driver (1976) are, among others, named as inspiration for the Massive Attack debut "Blue Lines". He signed a four-year, first-look deal to develop projects with studio executives of Paramount. [November 2006] The Departed (2006) is the highest-grossing movie of his 40-year career ($132,373,442 (USA)). The Aviator (2004) was his first movie to gross over $100 million in the U.S. He has worked with big names of music business: Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, 'Michael Jackson (I)' and David Bowie. Directed 17 different actors in Oscar nominated performances: Jodie Foster, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis , Cate Blanchett, Winona Ryder, Ellen Burstyn, Sharon Stone, Diane Ladd,Cathy Moriarty, Juliette Lewis, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Newman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Alan Alda and Mark Wahlberg. (Burstyn, De Niro, Newman, Pesci and Blanchett won Oscars for their roles in one of Scorsese's movies). When he won his Best Director Oscar for The Departed (2006), he received the award from legendary directors, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, and Steven Spielberg. The four were part of the "New Hollywood" movement of the 1970s and combined have 9 Academy Awards and 38 Nominations. As a teenager in the Bronx, Scorsese frequently rented Michael Powell's The Tales of Hoffmann (1951) from a store that only had one copy of the reels. When it wasn't available the owner told him, "that Romero kid has it," referring to George A. Romero who was also a big fan of the film. Today, both directors cite the film as a major influence. Says he was happy with the fact that it took so long for him to win Best Director, because if he had won it earlier, it would have affected his directing and films. Recipient of the 2007 Kennedy Center Honors. Other recipients that year were Leon Fleisher, Steve Martin, Diana Ross, and Brian Wilson. Says the only thing he regrets in his career is that he was only able to make The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) on a small budget although he imagined it to be a grand version. Was originally going to direct The Honeymoon Killers (1970), but was replaced after a week of shooting. Served as a guest critic on "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies" (1986) following the death of 'Gene Siskel'. He was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute in recognition of his outstanding contribution to film culture. Resides in New York City. His production offices are located on W. 57th Street in Manhattan. Attended Cardinal Hayes high school in the Bronx as a young man. Fellow alumni included George Carlin, George Dzundza, Regis Philbin and Jamal Mashburn. Is a fan of the British Hammer Films series. A huge fan of Fawlty Towers (1975). He describes the episode "The Germans" as "so tasteless, its hilarious.". In the 5th edition of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (edited by Steven Jay Schneider), 7 of Scorsese's films are listed: Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1982), Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995) and The Departed (2006). Haig Manoogian was Scorsese's mentor at NYU. 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