Martin Scorsese Has a Damn Good Reason Why He Won’t Work With WB Again
Martin Scorsese is often regarded as the finest filmmaker in the history of cinema. His vision transcends genres and his films present a human take on violence and crime. Known for his meticulous eye and a raging passion for storytelling, Scorsese has been making movies for several decades.
A movie by Martin Scorsese is always bankable. That doesn’t mean the director has not had a few misses, but he has now made a name for himself which guarantees the success of the projects he shepherds. Stars consider it an honor to work with him and studios are not far behind either.
However, one studio might not ever get to work with the Taxi Driver director.
Martin Scorsese stopped working with Warner Brothers
Studios in Hollywood have a reputation for exploiting talent to make money. They manipulate projects as per their desire, which is to make as much money as possible.
Something similar occurred which caused Martin Scorsese, to sever ties with Warner Brothers Studios. It was when making the 2006 crime thriller The Departed. The Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon starrer went on to bring Scorsese an Academy Award for Best Director. But it also became Scorsese’s last film with WB.
The severing of ties came over creative differences. In an interview with GQ, Scorsese recalled what had occurred, at the test screening of the film saying that the studio executives weren’t pleased with the film Scorses had made.
“What they wanted was a franchise. It wasn’t about a moral issue of a person living or dying. And then the studio guys walked out and they were very sad, because they just didn’t want that movie.”
The studio wanted either of the leads i.e., DiCaprio or Damon’s characters, to survive in the end. Which they do not. And Scorsese knew it to be his cue that his collaboration with the studio was done as they did not understand his vision; which the director had made clear is of utmost importance to him, no matter who he works with. As he told GQ:
“They wanted the franchise. Which means: I can’t work here anymore.”
However, this wasn’t the first issue to happen between Scorsese and Warner Bros.
It Had Been a Long Time Coming…
Scorsese’s fallout with Warner Bros. was a long time coming. It was during the making of the 2004 release The Aviator when Scorsese had initially decided to stop working with the studio. However, at that time there were no creative differences at play. The film was initially set to be distributed by Warner Bros. alongside Harvey Weinstein’s Miramax Productions. And things didn’t end well. Scorsese told GQ that he was not particularly interested in working:
“And I was against that; there was a meeting, and I was forced into that position. I’d already been, uh, made pregnant, as they said. And there’s no way you’re getting out of it. But the shoot went well, the editing went well until the last couple of weeks of editing. And they came in and did some things that I felt were extremely mean. I just said, ‘I am no longer making films.’
Both studios had cut off all funding for the film and Scorsese had to pay $500,000 from his own pocket to finish the film.
Two years later, Scorsese worked with the studio only because DiCaprio was attached to the film and he was drawn to the project. His experience working with WB again might have been disappointing yet again but it was a good choice, as it brought Scorsese his Academy Award.
The Departed is available for streaming on Netflix and The Aviator is available on Fubo.
Source: GQ
