Martin Scorsese Talks ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon,’ Why He’s Never Been A “Hollywood Guy” And The Future Of Film: “I Don’t Know Where Cinema Is Gonna Go” — London Film Festival
07.10.2023 - 16:31
/ deadline.com
Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall irrupted into a flurry of cheers this afternoon as filmmaker Martin Scorsese strolled on stage to take part in a career Q&A at the London Film Festival.
The keynote session, hosted by Baby Driver filmmaker Edgar Wright, was the hottest ticket here this week in London. With a completely sold-out crowd of devoted film fans and UK-based filmmakers like Dexter Fletcher and Asif Kapadia, the session unraveled almost like a university lecture, with Scorsese speaking for lengthy periods about his films, career, and the effect both have had on his life.
“I’ve always considered myself a teacher more than a filmmaker,” Scorsese began when quizzed on his voracious appetite for world cinema and why he likes to remain in dialogue with other people about the films he loves.
“I’ve felt a sense of pride that I’ve influenced a couple of people not necessarily with my work but by recommending films,” Scorsese said. “ And then from their films, I get inspired. It opens up a whole new world.”
Working his way through Scorsese’s filmography — mostly chronologically — Wright reminded the filmmaker that his breakthrough hit, Mean Streets, turns 50 this year. Digging into the film’s creation, Scorsese said he simply wanted to “make a film about my life and friends in the Lower East Side.”
“It was a delicate issue because it wasn’t a place where you could bring cameras. And you couldn’t mention certain names,” Scorsese said of his neighborhood, which he described as rough and working class.
“I had to be very careful, so it became a very personal film, and that took three years.”
Scorsese said Mean Streets was filmed in 1972 and first presented to audiences in 1973. At that point, he said, “The only