NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JANUARY 23: Martin Scorsese attends Reel Pieces With Annette Insdorf: Martin … More
Director Martin Scorsese is reportedly done with going to see movies in public because of the behavior of audiences in theaters.
Scorsese, of course, is the legendary filmmaker behind such film classics as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Casino, Gangs of New York, Hugo and The Irishman. Scorsese also won his first and only Oscar for Best Director for the 2006 Best Picture Oscar winner The Departed.
More recently, Scorsese’s 2023 historical crime epic Killers of the Flower Moon was nominated for 10 Oscars but came away from the ceremony empty-handed.
In a recent conversation with Peter Travers for The Travers Take, Scorsese told the longtime ABC News and Rolling Stone film critic why he was finished seeing movies in theaters.
“I asked the maestro why he doesn’t see movies in theatres anymore and he went all raging bull about audiences who babble on phones during the movie, leave to order snacks and vats of soda, and keep up a noise level loud enough to drown out the actors,” Travers wrote (via The Guardian).
Travers noted that he pointed out to Scorsese how “we couldn’t keep our mouths shut when we were kids” when they went to movies, to which he said the filmmaker replied, “‘Yeah, maybe,’ he conceded, ‘but when we talked it was always about the movie and the fun we had chewing over the details.’”
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 05: (L-R) Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro attend the “Casino” 30th … More
Martin Scorsese Has Been Vocal About Movie Culture Before
While Martin Scorsese voiced what is likely the overwhelming sentiment of people who go to theaters to simply enjoy movies, he’s also expressed opinions about cinema culture in the past that have not been as popular.
In 2019, Scorsese told Empire Magazine (via Variety) that he “tried” to watch Marvel movies, but concluded, “That’s not cinema.”
“Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks,” Scorsese told Empire. “It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”
Scorsese recently appeared in a cameo role as himself in Apple TV+’s movie business satire The Studio. Among the director’s upcoming films is an untitled Hawaii-set crime thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Blunt and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
In addition, Martin Scorese is set to be the subject of an upcoming Apple TV+ docuseries Mr. Scorese, which is being directed by Rebecca Miller.
