Today, it’s easy to put Martin Scorsese up there as one of the greatest American film directors of all time. However, according to one of his longest collaborators, that feeling is relatively new, as studios didn’t respect him as a living legend until the last decade or so. And prior to that, even with directing some of the most influential films of the past 50 years, Scorsese had to fight to keep his films out of the hands of studio executives.
In an interview with TotalFilm, film editor Thelma Schoonmaker, who has worked on nearly every film directed by Martin Scorsese, talked about her experiences with the filmmaker. In particular, she explained how the director hasn’t always been seen as an untouchable icon and that he has always been forced to fight to keep his films exactly how he’s wanted them to be.
“It’s only the last 10 years or so that he’s been acknowledged as the great director he is,” Schoonmaker said. “Believe me, we had to fight tooth and nail [on] every one of those films to keep it from being changed by the studio. And Marty would burn the film rather than give it up. We would win, but it would be a long, hard battle.”
Though it’s wild to think that a studio would try to change something like “Raging Bull” or “Goodfellas,” Schoonmaker makes it clear that those films, seen as classics now, would have been greatly different if Scorsese didn’t fight studios. Now, of course, we see studios bend over backwards to give the filmmaker a huge budget to make whatever project he wants. And with films like “The Irishman” and “Killers of the Flower Moon,” it’s clear that studios are willing to give him the space and freedom he’s earned.
If nothing else, this should probably serve as another bit of inspiration from Scorsese. If you are a creative person and you want to make sure your art is delivered in the way you envisioned, you have to fight to make sure it stays that way. And if you’re successful enough, hopefully you’ll earn the independence you desired initially. Then you, like Scorsese, can go off and make three-hour dramas with massive A-list stars and huge budgets. It’s really that simple.
