Martin Scorsese
The work of Martin Scorsese has helped define American cinema. Born in 1942, Scorsese grew up in New York’s Italian Catholic milieu. As a child, he was kept out of sports and often from playing outside, because of his asthma. Not only did he find his fun in movie theatres, but also spent hours drawing scenes within a frame - a self-taught exercise in how to make a film’s storyboard. He studied at New York University Film School, where he has maintained a teaching presence throughout his career – one of his first students was Oliver Stone. He also developed close friendships with three other directors starting their careers at the same time - Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg. Scorsese’s breakthrough film was Mean Streets (1973). Starring Harvey Keitel (whom he had used in a student film) and Robert De Niro, the film captured the extreme violence, spiritual conflict, sense of duty to friends, and potent use of music (the images from music are often his inspiration for the films) that would have a presence in almost all of his work. Scorsese’s astounding accomplishments have included the feature films Alice Doesn’t Live Here, Anymore (1974), Taxi Driver (1976), New York, New York (1977) a musical with De Niro and Liza Minnelli, Raging Bull (1980), King of Comedy (1983), After Hours (1985), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), The Color of Money (1986), New York Stories (1989) with two other stories directed by Coppola and Woody Allen, Goodfellas (1990), Cape Fear (1991), The Age of Innocence (1993), Casino (1995), Kundun (1997), Bringing Out the Dead (1999), Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), and The Departed (2006) for which he won his first directing Oscar. Oh, and did you know that he also directed the Michael Jackson video, Bad? Scorsese has also created immensely significant documentaries, including, Italianamerican (1974), The Last Waltz (1978), American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince (1978), and No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005). Scorsese continues to be deeply involved in the teaching and preservation of film history. His positions include the presidency of the Film Foundation for film preservation, and advisory board of Independent Film Channel for upcoming filmmakers.
