If you’re a fan of classic filmmakers, the last several years has been startling for a number of reasons. With the influx of huge blockbusters dominating the theatrical business and streaming content becoming the real place to find new, original voices, it’s beginning to feel like legendary directors are finding it increasingly difficult to find support for new films from the studios that used to give greenlights to these filmmakers on a regular basis. A now-classic example of this is the situation with Martin Scorsese and “The Irishman,” where the director had to rely on Netflix to finance and distribute his film.
READ MORE: Terry Gilliam Explains Why He Liked All Of ‘The Irishman’ “Except The Last 30 Minutes”
However, in a new interview with the New York Times, Scorsese talked about how he saw the writing on the wall years ago, dating back to his time finishing up “The Aviator.” You see, during the final steps of bringing “The Aviator” to theaters in 2004, the film (a co-production of Miramax and Warner Bros.) caused incredible stress for Scorsese, as he found himself butting heads with studio executives. This friction led to Scorsese questioning whether or not he still had a place in the world of filmmaking.
“The last two weeks of editing and mixing ‘The Aviator,’I had left the business from the stress,” he said. “I said if this is the way you have to make films then I’m not going to do it anymore.”
Instead of fully quitting the business, Scorsese decided that depending on studio financing probably wasn’t the way to move forward. So, after that film, the legendary filmmaker decided to find more independent sources of financing.
“It’s like being in a bunker and you’re firing out in all directions,” he said about working in the current studio system. “You begin to realize you’re not speaking the same language anymore, so you can’t make pictures anymore.”
Miramax and Warner Bros. haven’t been the only studios that the filmmaker has been slightly contentious with over the years. Last year, Scorsese found himself dealing with Disney, as he discussed his displeasure with Marvel films (and superhero projects in general) taking over cinemas and, effectively, pushing out the more adult dramas that used to provide an alternative for film fans.
We’re not going to relitigate that now, but in the interview, he mentions one unforeseen side-effect to this situation with Disney/Marvel is that he’s in an awkward position in his negotiations with Fox about adding some of the studio’s classic work to the projects that his Film Foundation wants to restore and preserve. Now that 20th Century Fox is owned by Disney, perhaps his ability to add those films to his foundation’s work is going to be hindered.
“Then all this [Marvel discussion] came up,” Scorsese joked. “So, we’ll have a lot to talk about.”
As for a project that he isn’t part of (no matter what people might assume), the filmmaker discussed why he hasn’t yet seen “Joker,” despite all the critical acclaim Todd Phillips’ film has received and Scorsese’s original connection to the film during its development. Apparently, the filmmaker is content with just watching clips.
“I saw clips of it,” the filmmaker said. “I know it. So it’s like, why do I need to? I get it. It’s fine.”
As for what the next year holds for Scorsese, he’s currently in the middle of developing “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which is set to start Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. A release date has not been revealed.