Jon S. Baird has revealed Martin Scorsese took him under his "wing" after they first met and he told the legendary director that his movie ‘King of Comedy’ had inspired him to become a filmmaker.
The Scottish director worked with Scorsese on his HBO drama ‘Vinyl’ and after their initial meeting the pair have kept in contact and Baird regularly goes to the New Yorker’s house for dinner.
Opening up about his friendship with Scorsese, 76, and his gushing praise when they first met Baird said: "By the look on his face, you could tell that he sort of hears this all the time. He was probably thinking I was going to mention ‘Taxi Driver’ or ‘Raging Bull’ or ‘Goodfellas’, but then I said that ‘King of Comedy’ was the one that really got me interested in filmmaking, and he instantly became engaged on a really intense level. I don’t think many people pick that out as one of his best movies.
"From that moment he kind of took me under his wing and ever since then, whenever I go to New York I go round to his house and we will have a cup of tea and chat about things, or I’ll go to the edit and he will show me stuff from the latest film that he has been working on. It is like a boyhood dream."
Baird’s latest movie is ‘Stan & Ollie’, which tells the story of a tour of the UK and Ireland by comedy legends Laurel and Hardy after their fame had peaked.
The movie – which stars Steve Coogan as Stan and John C. Reilly as Ollie – has been nominated for a host of major awards and Baird, 46, has admitted that Scorsese "mentored" him during the process
In an interview with The I Paper, he said: "He did mentor me on ‘Stan & Ollie’. We only had one day to shoot that because we were in the Pinewood and Star Wars had already taken all the stages. It was unbelievable We planned it like it was a military operation."
Jon S. Baird has close friendship with Martin Scorsese
