Scorsese Working with 3D, De Niro, and More

Published by Jeff Leins on February 18, 2010

Over the weekend, word spread from the Berlin Film Festival about several Martin Scorsese projects, including his future use of 3D, a brand new collaboration with old friend Robert De Niro, returning to dormant film Silence, and his work in commercials.

The wildest, a Lars Von Trier-inspired remake of Taxi Driver, has already been debunked.  At an Armani event, Scorsese clarified saying they met, but it wasn’t about redoing the 1976 classic.  Hollywood hasn’t lured Scorsese into their remake game… yet.

One trend he may be buying into is this hot, new 3D technology all the kids are talking about.  Discussion at the festival was more about his upcoming children’s film The Invention of Huge Cabret, which Variety says will be in 3D.  This is the first I’ve heard of an additional dimension for the circus film, so unfortunately I don’t have more details at this time.

Though he’s extremely passionate about film restoration, Scorsese seems open to emerging techniques too.  At the L.A. County Museum of Art he said, “I really would [like to shoot in 3D] and one of the [filmmakers I was talking to] pointed to space [motioning between the screen and the audience]. I said, you’re right, I would have to know how to utilize that space in the script – when to use that [camera] move or when to reveal that thing in 3D. Now, I don’t know if I could do that.”  The filmmaker is planning a May shoot in Paris.

It appears as though his trepidation stems from decades of experience and the formation of comfortable habits.  The good news is he may soon return to one of those niches with another gangster drama starring Robert De Niro, a dream collaboration 15 years after their last (Casino).  “Bob De Niro (and I) are talking about something that has to do with that world,” Scorsese told Reuters after a press screening of Shutter Island (which was excellent, by the way).  “There’s no doubt about that. We’re working on something like that, but it’s from the vantage point of older men looking back, none of this running around stuff.”

No further details were given, but this could be the controversial life story of Johnny Martorano, a Boston-based mobster who confessed to the murders of twenty people, which Scorsese purchased early last year.  It could just as easily be The Irishman, another mob assassin story about a man who claimed 25 of his own murders, including Jimmy Hoffa.  Steven Zaillain (Gangs of New York) wrote the latter, previously titled I Heard You Paint Houses.

However, this probably won’t be his next project.  After putting Hugo in the can, Scorsese said he will shift to Silence, a film about 17th Century Jesuit priests and his third time working with Daniel Day-Lewis. “Everything was ready for ‘Silence’. But the film was shifted to be shot immediately after this project.”

Finally, fragrance company Chanel revealed on Tuesday that Scorsese directed their latest television men’s cologne campaign with French actor Gaspard Ulliel.  So look for that in September, world.