Nicole Kidman kicked off another dreaded round of Martin Scorsese discourse when she said she'd like to make a movie with the director "if he does a film with women." Lots of cinema fans had lots to say about this, but in Lorraine Bracco's opinion, she has a bit of a point. "I don’t think she’s wrong,” the Goodfellas star shares in an interview with The Independent. "There have been strong women roles—one role—in each of his movies. In Raging Bull you had Cathy Moriarty, Sharon Stone in Casino… but the only woman-driven movie I think he really made was with Michelle Pfeiffer [The Age of Innocence]. Other than that, he’s very male-driven. That’s who he is! That is his theme. That and religion."
Kidman's remark doesn't leave a lot of room for nuance, but Bracco's reaction seems like a pretty reasonable view of both sides of the issue. Scorsese's storytelling generally does reflect an interest in a particular form of masculinity and the corruption thereof. But putting that into practice on an actual film set comes with its own challenges: "Making Goodfellas, I was surrounded by 10 guys. We were all surrounded by men—and men that [Scorsese] uses all the time. So, there’s a huge shorthand between a director and an actor," Bracco explained. No doubt that's an intimidating position for any actor, let alone the only woman of the bunch. Luckily, she had a "saving grace" in the form of Ray Liotta, who was also working with Scorsese for the first time. "I love Ray. I loved, loved, loved him. He was really my partner in crime on that movie."
Bracco ultimately describes Scorsese as "one of the 10 greatest directors of our generation" along with her Someone To Watch Over Me director Ridley Scott. "That film wasn’t a big success, but I learnt so much from Ridley, and he was so beautiful in guiding me and teaching me and believing in me. Beautiful, beautiful," she reflected. "You know, here’s the thing about Ridley: as much as he does all the Gladiator, and Alien, 'cause he loves all that scary stuff… I think one of the most beautiful parts of Ridley is that he loves women."
