When news broke that Martin Scorsese’s next two planned films — a Frank Sinatra biopic and a religious drama, “The Life of Jesus” — were being postponed, unfounded rumors started swirling that the great filmmaker was retiring. After all, Scorsese is nearly 82 years old, and may be ready to slow down after working nonstop for over 50 years.
But during an appearance in Turin, Italy on Monday night, Scorsese put those rumors to rest. “I’m not saying goodbye to cinema at all,” he said, per The Hollywood Reporter, during a press conference at the Museum of Cinema, where he’s set to receive the museum’s Stella della Mole award. “I still have more films to make, and I hope God gives me the strength to make them.”
Last month, Variety reported that production on the two films, which were expected to shoot back-to-back starting this fall, had stalled. Scorsese is reportedly still developing “The Life of Jesus,” which he is financing independently. The future of the Sinatra project is more uncertain, as it is unclear if the late singer’s estate has signed off on the project, and the film would be unlikely to proceed without the family’s blessing, according to Variety. The larger of the two projects, it was to be produced by Universal and Mandalay Pictures. Scorsese has had trouble securing traditional studio funding for the expensive and relatively un-commercial films he’s made in the past decade — the religious drama “Silence” was independently produced, while historical crime dramas “The Irishman” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” were funded by Netflix and Apple, respectively, during periods of largesse — and that has surely only gotten more difficult in the past two years of contraction in Hollywood.
Scorsese is keeping busy, however, with what he described as “a documentary about marine archaeology” focused on the exploration of an ancient shipwreck off the coast of Sicily.
During the press conference, Scorsese also shared some thoughts on the election, which reminds him of one of his movies. “When we filmed ‘Gangs of New York’ at Cinecittà, we depicted a violent, bloody 19th-century America, with a brutal character — Bill the Butcher, played by Daniel Day-Lewis. People like him are showing up again. We don’t know what’s going to happen in a few weeks. Democracy could continue, or this experiment could end,” he said. “I never thought I’d live through a moment like this. It reminds me of Federico Fellini, who, while filming ‘Satyricon,’ said as he walked through Rome: ‘I feel like I’m back in ancient Roman times.’ Now I feel like we’re back in the world of ‘Gangs of New York,’ a film about violent clashes between immigrant ethnic groups fighting for control of New York and, metaphorically, America.”
Martin Scorsese is a 16-time Academy Award nominee and one-time winner (Best Director for “The Departed”). Ten of his films have been nominated for Best Picture, in every decade since the 1970s.
