Mean Streets Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Memories can be hazy things. Did Francis Ford Coppola really question the necessity of The Godfather Part II? Did he really want Martin Scorsese to direct the sequel, rather than himself? Referring to The Godfather, Coppola told Esquire: "The ending was clear and Michael has corrupted himself - it was over. So I didn't understand why they wanted to make another Godfather." He then made the executives at Paramount Pictures an offer they could refuse: "I said, 'What I will do is help you develop a story. And I'll find a director and produce it.' They said, 'Well, who's the director?' And I said, 'Young guy, Martin Scorsese.' They said, 'Absolutely not!' He was just starting out."

What an amusing, colorful anecdote, offering fresh insight into the making of a classic film! Except, er, it's not so fresh, since Coppola told Peter Biskind the same thing for his 1998 book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls. In the book, Coppola said that after he recommended his friend to Robert Evans, then a studio executive, Evans replied: "Absolutely not! Marty Scorsese is a horrible choice. Over my dead body." Coppola eventually agreed to do the picture when he was offered one million dollars.

As it happens, I've been working my way through the magnificent Coppola Restoration versions of the Godfather films on DVD, which includes Robert DeNiro's audition for The Godfather. Six months after The Godfather opened, Scorsese and DeNiro were filming Mean Streets. What if Scorsese had followed that up with The Godfather Part II instead of Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore?

Martin Scorsese is tired of working in the restrictive studio system and needs a break from big-budget Hollywood -- at least, according this Reuters article. Even though his most recent film, the hugely successful The Departed, is the best-performing film of his career (and financed by a major studio -- Warner Bros.), he feels his creativity is being stifled by the major studios that don't want to take as many risks with their money on edgier and less audience-friendly films.

He does go on to praise Warner Bros. in the article for its support during the production of The Departed and its commitment to allowing him to achieve his creative vision for the film. However, he insists he now wants to focus on smaller-scale, lower-budget films that will give him even more creative control. So, in keeping with that philosophy, what's his next film going to be? Well, according to Scorsese, it most definitely will not be another one of the crime dramas, like Goodfellas, Casino or Mean Streets, that he is so famous for.

Instead, his dream project is the story of two 17th century Portuguese missionaries, adapted from the novel Silence by Shusaku Endo. This is a project, according to Scorsese, that he has wanted to do for 15 years. His desire to turn Endo's novel into a film actually makes sense if you think about it. The main character's struggle in the novel to balance his life as a Japanese man and a Catholic in a country where the percentage of the population who are Catholic is barely 1%, must surely have resonated with the director. He is, after all, a man who makes no secret of his Catholic background and the influence it has on his films; this project should not come as a surprise to anyone even remotely familiar with Scorsese and his work. Besides, in the hands of a master filmmaker like Scorsese, this adaptation could prove to be very interesting indeed.

Of course, even with his desire to make these kinds of "riskier" films outside the studio system, he isn't completely ruling out the possibility of going back to work for the major studios, given the right circumstances. All it would take, according to Scorsese, would be a script like The Departed with the same type of budget and freedom to do things his way. Said Scorsese: "I'd be tempted, because it's like a disease. It's like a drug." I, for one, can't wait to get my next Scorsese fix.

How about you? What's your favorite Scorsese film?