(engaging music)
- The first Scorsese film I watched was "Taxi Driver".
I watched it with my dad and I think I was about 15.
And we watched a couple of films over that weekend,
and I said, "Dad, I think I really wanna
"have a go at this acting."
And he was, "Do you?"
I went, "Yeah I really do, I'm honest."
And he went, "Okay."
And we went to the video shop, and we got three films
and one of which was "Taxi Driver".
The others, one was "The Godfather"
and one was "Deer Hunter".
So straight away I was kind of immersed
in classic filmmaking, do you know what I mean?
Beautiful storytelling, strong characters.
And stories which meant something, which had a voice
and which was talking about the human condition.
(slow jazz music)
For me, "Taxi Driver" just literally blew my mind.
I'd never seen that world,
I hadn't seen New York in that way before,
but to see that richness of that world
and the darkness and the depth
of what he captured just absolutely blew my mind
and a performance which it's completely outstanding.
And to watch Travis Bickle go through
that massive journey he goes on, do you know what I mean?
His hatred for the world
and then his feeling a part of the outside of society
and, that beautiful opening,
and that music at the beginning, do you know what I mean?
The orchestral music would begin
and the lights of the city.
I was mesmerized.
You know where Harvey Keitel stood on a stoop
and he comes in, and De Niro comes in
and they have little chat.
- Is your name Matthew?
Need some action?
- Officer, I swear I'm clean,
I'm just waiting here for a friend.
- And just to see him in that hat and that vest
and the imagery of the characters and stuff,
it really was amazing.
(upbeat jazz music)
The next film I watched straight away
which was literally a week later, I watched "Mean Streets"
and that was...
(blows burst of air)
It was a world I knew nothing about,
but was obsessed with then, do you know what I mean?
And obsessed with that whole era
and that culture in America at that time.
Yeah, a lot of British actors were kinda brought up
on that stuff as well, do you know what I mean?
And it really resonated.
But the character study was amazing.
I'd never seen character studies like that
do you know what I mean?
And then I started watching a lot of films after that.
But to see the way these people
were portrayed was breathtaking.
(traditional Italian music)
"Goodfellas" is still I mean it's in my top five films
of all time, do you know what I mean?
And again, that, all the different characters,
all the colors of the tapestry that he puts together
of all these different people.
And the thing is,
the thing about Marty's films in particular,
is they're never one dimensional these characters at all,
do you know what I mean?
Been lucky enough to work with him,
that's kind of that's the process what he does.
He always tries to help you find a way
of making your characters humane, do you know what I mean?
Even if they're psychotic killers
or whatever in any respect.
He always tries to find this other element,
to show that the humanity within that character
at some point or at some level do you know what I mean?
And these are people that are...
Look, these are people that are shooting people.
Do you know what I mean?
They're killing people, they're robbing things,
they're stealing this, they're killing people.
(gun shots) But yet we go on
that journey with them,
do you know what I mean?
They become likable, (car explodes)
although we shouldn't like them.
As a fact, we shouldn't like these kind of people
but we do, we get immersed in that story,
do you know what I mean?
And that's what he does,
he makes the characters gregarious,
you're really drawn to them characters,
and you end up rooting especially, in "Goodfellas"
you end up rooting for them, do you know what I mean?
'cause he's a good man,
but it's the world he gets caught up in.
(traditional Italian music)
Obviously, there was the scene with Joe Pesci
"Clown, do I amuse you?"
That I mean that, when I first saw it, I was blown away.
- I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown,
I amuse you.
I make you laugh, I'm here to fucking amuse you.
What do you mean funny?
Funny how, how am I funny?
- I'm not, just you know how you tell the story what?
- I watched it, and I think I watched it
in the cinema first,
and then when I got it on video,
I just remember rewinding that a good few times I did
watch that scene, and just how he (clicks fingers) flips.
- You're a funny guy.
(laughs)
- What do you mean?
You mean do I talk, what?
- Just, you know, you're just funny.
It's you're funny yeah,
the way you tell the story, and everything.
- Funny how?
(traditional Italian music) - He just goes.
But then again, you feel uncomfortable
for the other characters as well.
But you're kind of excited about what he's gonna do,
do you know what I mean?
So that was one particular scene I do watch it
over and over again.
- Get the fuck out of here, Tommy.
- You motherfucker!
I almost had 'em, I almost had 'em.
(funky music)
- It's his storytelling both visually
and with the characters that he tells his stories with,
do you know what I mean?
You just become immersed in it.
He is a master at telling stories,
do you know what I mean?
Like I said about characters with faults, with defects,
do you know what I mean?
He portrays the human condition beautifully I think.
There's very few for me.
For me, he's the best director there is.
To be able to work with him a few times
has been absolutely unbelievable.
And when I work with him on "Gangs of New York"
on my last day he said to me,
"We'll do this again sometime."
And I was, "You can't say that to me and not do it."
He was, "No, I promise you, we'll do this again sometime."
Yeah, and he stuck to his word.
And I'm extremely humbled and very honored
to be able to work with such a wonderful man.
- [Interviewer] Did he say that to you at the end
of "The Irishman" as well?
- I can't say.
No, yeah, yeah, oh, yeah.
No, no.
Hmm, hmm, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
(funky music)