Martin Scorsese was not welcomed in Hollywood during early career

CHENNAI: Celebrated filmmaker Martin Scorsese is pleased with the influence he has had on other filmmakers, not just through his own work but by recommending movies made by other people, and in turn he is inspired by them too.

“I’ve always considered myself a teacher more than a filmmaker. I’ve felt a sense of pride that I’ve influenced a couple of people not necessarily with my work but by recommending films. And then from their films, I get inspired. It opens up a whole new world,” he said.

The Killers of the Flower Moon filmmaker also told how he struggled to be accepted in the industry even when he tried “to be a Hollywood guy.” He said, “They asked me to leave around 1978 or 1979.

And not just because of the filmmaking. We were younger, and I was going through teenage rebellion at the age of 27.” He insisted that he doesn’t want to be seen as the “last line of defense” for cinema in the digital age and encouraged the industry to embrace the “extraordinary time” we live in due to technological advancements.

He added, “I didn’t want to be the last line of defence. I don’t know where cinema is going. Why does it have to be the same as it was in the last 90-100 years? It doesn’t. Do we prefer what’s been happening for the last 90 years? I do but I’m old.

Younger people are going to see the world in a different way.” He even remarked, “If I had digital or even good video, I would’ve shot Mean Streets on that, and I wouldn’t have had to pay for cameras.

It would have given us a sense of freedom. Now there’s so much freedom that you really have to rethink what you’re saying and how you’re gonna say it. I hope that serious film can still be made with this new technology and this new world we’re a part of.”