Over the course of his long career, Martin Scorsese has amassed dozens of production credits on projects ranging from “Uncut Gems” to “Once Were Brothers” to “Vinyl” as well as his own work on films such as the Academy Award and PGA Award-nominated “Killers.” From the Moonflower.” His love of cinema and its preservation is well-established, earning him the PGA David O. Selznick Award for Achievement in Theatrical Motion Pictures.
But, artistically speaking, Scorsese wasn’t much of a producer during the first three decades of his career. He is listed as a producer on his early short films “Vesuvius VI” (1959) and “The Big Shave” (1967) and as a co-producer on the music documentary “Medicine Ball Caravan” (1967). But he didn’t get another producing credit until 1990’s “The Grifters,” directed by Stephen Frears, and he didn’t get another producing credit until 2010’s “Shutter Island.”
What has changed? Not much, according to Scorsese. “I was always involved throughout the entire production process,” he says. It was simply, “My collaborators and I felt it was time for me to get credit that reflected that.” His basic approach as a producer: “It’s all about image quality – the process of putting it on the screen.”
Given his knowledge and passion for film history, it is not surprising to hear him speak enthusiastically about David O. Selznick, who produced everything from the blockbuster films King Kong (1933) and Gone with the Wind (1939) to the first film Scorsese ever saw, the Western Duel in the Sun (1946).
“Hollywood has had many great producers, people who have truly left their mark on the history of filmmaking, but why does David O. Selznick stand alone?” Scorsese asks. “Maybe because he was an unusual combination of qualities. He had the producer’s ingenuity and sense of grandeur, polar determination, and a truly obsessive artistic drive. This is a guy who wouldn’t stop until he got exactly what he wanted there on the screen.”
Scorsese often had to muster this determination in the manner of Selznick, and not just in epic films like The Rose Killers. “I find that willpower is essential in almost every picture, no matter the size,” Scorsese says. “I put my all into all my photos, and I always did my best.”