Legendary Hollywood director Martin Scorsese turns 78

Scorsese is widely known for movies with strong characters, storylines and garnering critical acclaim for almost every movie he makes

Legendary Hollywood director, maker of Taxi Driver, Shutter Island and The Wolf of Wall Street, and a constant favourite of film critics, Martin Scorsese turned 78 on Tuesday. On the back of multiple Oscar-nominated movies The Irishman, Scorsese just announced another venture to be launched in 2021, Killers of the Flower Moon, produced by Paramount Pictures and Apple TV+ starring actors Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Widely regarded as one of the best film directors of all time, Scorsese has delivered several classic movies that have leveraged on strong on-screen characters, storylines and not as much on special effects and CGI, like several of his contemporaries.

Scorsese, in an interview with The Quint, had earlier attributed his familiarity with images of India to films by Satyajit Ray. He added that on his first visit to India, he caught glimpses of village life in the country and commented on how people appear to be resilient and strong, unlike the rushed lifestyle of those in the US. “The tradition of looking within yourself in India is something that we Americans could use.”

On his connection with Robert De Niro, he said that the actor extracted marvellous work from him. He added, “We've done so many films together. It has been said that I use him as my alter ego. Maybe. But I do know that we're so close that quite often he completes a sentence that I have started. We have a strict private code between us -- no one is admitted to the sets, not even the press when we're doing the major scenes.”

In the interview, he has also revealed that at first, he was interested in priesthood and that he nearly became a priest. “But I didn't do well in seminary studies, Latin and all of that. I wondered whether I should join the New York Film School and maybe go back to the seminary later. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to get married or not. I didn't return once I'd gone through the experience of seeing some great films at the Film School in 1963,” he said.

Here are some of Martin Scorsese’s top movies:

1. Taxi Driver from 1976, a psychological thriller starring Robert De Niro and Jodie Foster, based in New York focusing on the character of a lonely taxi driver.

2. Goodfellas (1990), earned Scorsese the Silver Lion for Best Director at the 47th Venice International Film Festival. The movie narrates the life of an associate in the mob in the US and his friends and family.

3. The Wolf of Wall Street from 2013, follows the character Jordan Belfort, a stockbroker in New York City, his firm Stratton Oakmon and how he engaged in corruption and fraud in Wall Street.