‘The Irishman’ could be Martin Scorsese’s final film.
The 77-year-old director has been a vocal critic of how superhero movies are dominating the box office and he admitted that his latest film, ‘The Irishman’ could be the last movie he ever directs as he thinks there is "no room for another kind of picture".
He told The Guardian: "Obviously, we have been discussing this a lot, that theatres have been commandeered by superhero films – you know, just people flying around and banging and crashing, which is fine if you want to see it. It’s just that there’s no room for another kind of picture. I don’t know how many more I can make – maybe this is it. The last one. So the idea was to at least get it made and maybe show it for one day at the NFT, maybe one day at the Cinémathèque in Paris. I’m not kidding.
"We are in a situation now where the theatres are only showing the latest superhero films. You have 12 screens – and 11 are the superhero film. You enjoy superhero films, fine, but you need 11 screens? It’s crazy for a picture like, you know, ‘Lady Bird’ or ‘The Souvenir’. Those films may not necessarily be hugely commercial, but there are films that are modest and genuine and find a large audience. Just because a film is commercial doesn’t mean it can’t be art. What has consumed the theatres is product. A product is to be consumed and thrown away. Look at a commercial film like ‘Singin’ in the Rain. You can watch it again and again. So the question is: how are we going to protect the art form?"
Scorsese also admitted that he doesn’t believe some of his former films would get made in today’s film climate, because studios don’t want to invest in character-driven dramas.
He said: "Now, you don’t have to like the picture, but you couldn’t get ‘The Aviator’ made today. You could not get ‘Shutter Island’ made today, even with me and Leo [DiCaprio]. ‘The Departed’ got made despite itself – the star power helped. We knew when we were taking this project around that the doors are closing. So what’s going on? I looked over at the theatres right down the block – 10 screens showing the same picture."
And Martin revealed that he wishes ‘The Irishman’ had played in cinemas for longer but it was out of his hands.
He explained: "People comment that we’ve only shown this film in theatres for four weeks. We tried to get more, but the theatre owners and Netflix couldn’t come to terms. But you know, I’ve had pictures play only one week and get thrown out. In the US, ‘The King of Comedy’ closed in a week. That film was ignored for 10 years."
Martin Scorsese: ‘The Irishman could be my last film’
