The beef that almost made Martin Scorsese retire after Gangs of New York

Classics of Martin Scorsese as The Aviator (2004), The Departed (2006), Fear Island (2010) and the wolf of Wall Street (2013) almost didn’t exist because the legendary director almost retired due to behind-the-scenes bullshit. New York gangsreleased on February 7, 2003 in Brazilian cinemas.

The film’s cast included Daniel Day-Lewis (Bill “The Butcher”), Leonardo DiCaprio (Amsterdam Vallon), Cameron Diaz (Jenny Everdeane), Liam Neeson (Pastor Vallon), John C. Reilly (Happy Jack), Brendan Gleeson (Walter “Monk”), between others. The synopsis says:

William Cutting is the leader of a violent gang in 19th century New York who confronts his rivals. After his father is killed by a criminal, a young man vows to take revenge, but is torn between his thirst for justice and his fascination with the charismatic gangster.

With a running time of 2h47, the production should have had more time to develop the plot – at least that’s what Scorsese I wanted. However, he quarreled with Harvey Weinsteinresponsible for producing the film, who also had issues regarding the budget.

It is worth remembering how Weinstein does not work in the industry after receiving complaints from dozens of women about sexual harassment and abuse. The director’s relationship with the producer completely changed the way he saw the industry.

“I realized that I wouldn’t be able to work if I had to make films that way again,” said Martin Scorsese during an interview with GQ. “If that was the only way I could make films, then I would have to stop. Because the results were not satisfactory.”

Sometimes it was extremely difficult and I would not survive. I would be dead. And then I decided it was over, really.

Even with this problem, the director didn’t give up, but he thought about dropping everything when he worked with Harvey Weinstein again in The Aviator. Including, Scorsese “I was against” collaborating with the producer, who joined the film with his company, Miramaxresponsible for distribution.

“There was a meeting and I was forced into this position. I had already become pregnant, as they said. And there’s no way you can get out of this,” he explained. “But the shooting went well, the editing went well until the last few weeks of editing. And they came and did some things that I thought were extremely mean.”

As GQ reported, Warner Bros. It is Miramax cut funding for The Aviator. Because of this, Martin Scorsese was forced to use US$500,000, approximately R$2.5 million at current prices, from his own pocket to finish the film: “I just said: ‘I’m not making films anymore.’”