Thelma Schoonmaker on The Departed, Marty, and Michael Powell
Filed under: Thrillers, New Releases, Fandom, Newsstand
For those of you unfamiliar with her name, Thelma Schoonmaker is a film editor who has worked almost exclusively with Martin Scorsese since 1980, when they first collaborated on a little pictured called Raging Bull. Schoonmaker won the Oscar for her work on that film, and was honored by the Academy again in 2004 for The Aviator. She also was the wife of legendary British director and Scorsese muse Michael Powell, to whom Marty himself introduced her. The interview linked below is a great read and includes frank discussion about Scorsese (they never argue), Powell, and Schoonmaker's life in film. Frankly, she sounds like an amazing lady - smart, talented, and confident enough to be modest.A little tidbit from the interview that surprised me was that neither Schoonmaker nor Scorsese have seen Infernal Affairs, the Hong Kong film upon which The Departed is based. According to Schoonmaker, Scorsese read the script not knowing that another film was the source and fell in love with it; neither wants to see the original until The Departed is done in order to avoid being influenced by it. I'm not sure how I feel about this - while I wasn't as wild about Infernal Affairs as a lot of people, it nevertheless is an accomplished piece of Hong Kong action that happens to star a trio of pretty great actors. I can't decide if they're being disrespected by Marty's decision, or if what he's doing is totally reasonable. Anyone have more coherent thoughts on this?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-26-2005 @ 8:09PM
Nathan said...
I really wish to God that people who don't know him wouldn't call him "Marty."
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9-27-2005 @ 12:40AM
Peter Nellhaus said...
If Scorsese and Schoonmaker haven't seen the original yet, that's fine. I'm certain that Scorsese will eventually be as familiar with Andrew Lau and Alan Mak as he is with John Woo. I'm unclear as to if The Departed is based on just the first Infernal Affairs or is adapted from the trilogy. Also, while the three Hong Kong stars are terrific, mention should also be made of Eric Tsang who may be the hardest working guy in Hong Kong cinema.
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9-30-2005 @ 10:31PM
Aaron said...
I don't have any problem with him not having seen the original film either. In fact, I'm glad about that. If he had, consciously or not, he likely might have done certain things to be more different and make it his own. Rather, we'll get a more pure Scorsese movie that, for all we know, will look very little like the Hong Kong original. I'm actually really looking forward to this film -- it feels like a return for Scorsese to the intimate epic, for lack of a better description, that he does so well -- a really big story in a relatively small/confined world. Much more GOODFELLAS than GANGS OF NEW YORK or THE AVIATOR.
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