Edgar Wright discusses cinema with Martin Scorsese at the BFI London Film Festival. The discussion sees the filmmakers explore Martin Scorsese’s early film influences, emotional storytelling in cinema, and using the camera as a tool. As well as exploring how Martin Scorsese’s film collaborations have helped shaped his longstanding career in film.
BFI Screen Talk – Martin Scorsese’s Early Career:
During Martin Scorsese’s childhood in New York from the 1940s to 1950s, he visited his local movie theatre as his sanctuary. It was a form of escapism which bred his imagination and developed his deep love for cinema. But due to his Catholic upbringing, he also spread his time across Church too, which no doubt also had an impact on his moviemaking.
Martin Scorsese’s religious childhood shaped his moral compass and impacted his characters and their own development. For example, his most well-known works from Mean Streets (1973) to Taxi Driver (1976) are shaped by the backdrop of his own childhood neighbourhood in the Lower East Side, New York.
You don’t choose the story. The story chooses you. It keeps gnawing at you until you have to tell it.
(Martin Scorsese on Storytelling).
Growing up, he often storyboarded Roman Epics and would imagine how the camera would move between each frame. His film work is often shaped by the raw and gritty undertones of New York City and its character-driven stories that embody his work. His films are also partly shaped by film editor and long-time filmmaking collaborator, Thelma Schoonmaker who also preferred stories that were emotionally driven by the characters themselves.
Image Courtesy of Raph PH
BFI Screen Talk: Martin Scorsese – Shaped by International Cinema:
Martin Scorsese’s work has taken inspiration from various cultures across the world. From British cinema and Italian Neorealism to American classics.
British Cinema:
From filmmaking duo, Powell and Pressburger’s powerful ballet drama, The Red Shoes (1948) to Carol Reed’s The Third Man (1949) – Martin Scorsese’s films have been influenced by the visual aesthetics and emotional tones set out by such honourable British filmmakers. Other influences include the many works of the Hammer Horror films of the 1950s and 1960s.
But quite the opposite in terms of genre and tone were the Gainsborough Melodramas of the 1940s. These were, of course, a less serious approach to cinema. However, these films served as arthouse classics which targeted a more niche cinema audience.
Italian Neorealism:
Popular Italian directors and their respective work served as great inspiration to Martin Scorsese’s filmmaking career. Taking such inspiration from Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves (1948), and Roberto Rossellini’s Rome, Open City (1950) to the works of Luchino Visconti.
Watching such Italian films enriched the culture of not only Martin Scorsese’s own background but those of characters in his films too. Italian cinema reflected that of his own culture, beliefs, and dialects – often seeing himself in the characters’ cultures on-screen.
The camera isn’t just a tool—it’s a voice. It speaks the emotion of the scene before the actors say a word.
(Martin Scorsese on Cinema).
Getty Images
Classical Hollywood Cinema:
The sweeping stories and dreamlike romantic-dramas of Classical Hollywood Cinema, including such works as The Heiress (1949) and The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) sustained a narrative flow and pace that Scorsese could see to replicate. A big influence was German director, Douglas Sirk who was known for working on Hollywood melodramas throughout the 1950s.
Arguably, most known for All That Heaven Allows (1955), Scorsese noticed subtle layers of emotional subtext. Particularly beneath the work of Magnificent Obsession (1954) which he would then take inspiration from in his own work.
But for Martin Scorsese cinema is cinema. This means he respects cinema all the same. Whether that means viewing independent cinema and B-movies to high-art European genre films. It all inspires him as a filmmaker.
BFI Screen Talk – Martin Scorsese on ‘Teaching Cinema’:
Martin Scorsese is a big advocate for teaching cinema and is passionate about sharing his film knowledge with upcoming directors. It’s a full-circle narrative where he takes influence from filmmakers that have inspired him. And then he shares what he’s learnt throughout his career with directors in the early stages of their own careers.
Image Courtesy of Melinda Sue Gordon (2025)
Throughout the BFI Screen Talk, Martin Scorsese spoke through the making behind his most popular films. It’s clear that his career progression was highlighted from early works through the likes of Mean Streets (1973) and Taxi Driver (1976) to King of Comedy (1982) and Goodfellas (1990). Whilst also discussing the creative process and filmmaking techniques he used to shape each film.
I always thought of myself more as a teacher than as a filmmaker.
(Martin Scorsese on filmmaking mentorship).
Over the years, Martin Scorsese has had some iconic long-term collaborations with such revered Hollywood actors like Robert DeNiro and Leonardo DiCaprio. It’s these important relationships he’s developed to not only become collaborators but loyal filmmaking friends too. You can watch the full interview of Martin Scorsese’s BFI Screen Talk here.
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