It is inaccurate to say that Robert De Niro is Martin's royal actor.
The films that the two have collaborated on only a small part of their respective creations, but it is this small part that makes the cooperation between the two become a good story in film history, like each other's confidants, who can convey each other's light.
In 1970, through the introduction of director Brian de Palma, Martin and De Niro became friends. One of them is 28 years old, the other is 27 years old, flesh and blood, and they are all in the early stage of their careers.
Although De Niro has starred in many movies at this time, he is only a little famous, and no producer will attract more investment because of his name;
Martin was even less adept, working as a documentary filming assistant at the internationally acclaimed Woodstock Festival, and then made two low-budget films that didn't respond well, one of which was considered a bad one.
Just as Martin was about to continue to work on the film's story suggested by the producers, his friend John Kasavitz couldn't stand it, and he knew it wasn't what Martin really wanted to make, so he encouraged him to make a change. Probably at that time, the old horse also had the heart to create a classic, but it lacked a thrust, and Kasawitz just played this role.
John Cassavetti, masterpieces [Torrents of Love], [Murder of an Underground Boss], [Faces]...
So Martin spent a year raising money to start filming, set in a violent Italian immigrant community in New York that he and lead actor De Niro grew up in.
In "Poor Streets", De Niro established his image of a New York gangster (and later became a triumphant gangster in "Good Guys"), and Martin added his own memories of growing up, filled with dark and chaotic bars, dirty and dangerous streets, violent and savage youth.
Martin weakens the plot line through the community spaces where gangsters operate— homes, bars, restaurants, streets, and pornographic venues—and drives the narrative with character behavior. This allows lead actors De Niro and Harvey Keitel to act boldly and freely in each scene like "real" gangsters, reducing the influence of the main story mood on their performances.
[Poor Streets and Alleys] (1973)
In 1974, De Niro reached the first peak of his career, playing a supporting role in Coppola's highly successful sequel film The Godfather 2, playing the godfather of his youth, winning the 1975 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and then traveling to Italy to star in Bernaldo Bertolucci.
Martin didn't make a splash because of [the streets and alleys], but anyway, it was his handy work, and it was popular when it was screened in Cannes.
It was his friend de Palmer who brought martin good luck (the first of course introduced De Niro to him) by handing over to him a script rejected by critic and screenwriter Paul Schnard, which many producers rejected.
Brian de Palma, masterpieces [Mission Impossible], [Dawn of the Mistress], [Iron Mask Selfless], [Scarface Star], [Witch Carrie]...
The producer Paul found had read the script and Martin's "Poor Streets" and decided that he was the director he was looking for, but he had to work with De Niro. Martin was also very fond of the script, and went to Europe to find De Niro, who was filming [1900], and showed him the script, so the two collaborated for a second time to make the legendary masterpiece [Taxi Driver], still a movie set on the streets of New York.
The film won the Palme d'Or at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival and was equally well received in the United States, truly opening martin's film path.
After this film, Martin successfully received investment from MGM and immediately collaborated with De Niro on the song and dance film [New York, New York]. However, the box office and word of mouth were both failures at the time, and even Martin himself was a little disappointed in the film.
Later, his friend De Niro helped him out of the two-year trough and recommended an autobiography of a boxer to him. He collaborated again with Paul Schnard to adapt the autobiography into a film with De Niro as the protagonist, creating the classic "Raging Bull".
De Niro's collaboration with Martin barely missed (for now, [New York, New York] also received high ratings, but not very well in Scorsese's films), and after [Angry Bull], the two collaborated on [King of Comedy], [Good Guys], [Cape Horror], and [Casino Storm], all of which are masterpieces of film history.
In 2019, two old friends who are nearly eighty years old will cooperate with gangster films [Irishman], thinking that they will create a classic again.
▼
Harvey Keitel
We seem to be "love at first sight"
Age: 80
Number of cooperation: 6
Co-productions: [Who's Knocking on My Door] (1967) / [Poor Streets] (1973) / [Once Shipwrecked as Water] (1974) / [Taxi Driver] (1976) / [The Last Temptation of Christ] (1988) / [The Irishman] (2019)
Had it not been for the encounter with Robert De Niro later, Martin's films might have starred Harvey Keitel all the time.
No one would have known Martin earlier than Harvey. At the first meeting, Martin was preparing his graduation work, while Harvey was also working as a stenographer in the courthouse. A student director, an amateur actor, the two met when their careers were blank.
Hawey was a few years older than Martin, was born and raised in New York, joined the Marine Corps, and traveled to Lebanon. After retiring from the army, he was not at ease with the boring work of the court, working during the day and studying acting at night.
One day, he saw a job advertisement where a film school student was looking for actors for his graduation work. So he and Martin met.
Harvey's temperament is very similar to Martin's, full of manly appearance and full of sensitivity on the inside. Martin took a liking to him at a glance. In the later relationship, the two constantly found that they had countless commonalities with each other, and they felt more and more sorry for each other.
"We seem to be 'in love at first sight', a bit of a feeling of seeing each other and hating each other. Once you're on a journey, there's always someone to help you along the way. Harvey later said in an interview.
Without Harvey's support, it's hard to imagine how Martin's first film [Who's Knocking on My Door] would have been done.
[Who's knocking on my door] (1967), Douban 7.2, IMDb 6.7, Rotten Tomatoes 68%
This is a graduation examination short film from the student period, but during the filming process, Martin constantly came up with new ideas, expanding the length again and again, and shooting intermittently for four years.
The title of the film was constantly changed, starting with the short film called "Bring Your Dance Partner", expanding the content and then changing it to "I said it first", until 1969, when the film was officially named "Who Is Knocking on My Door".
At that time, Martin was basically unable to provide much remuneration, and the budget of the film was extremely low, however, Harvey never planned to leave halfway for more than four years, he had a good relationship with everyone in the crew, and he became an iron brother with Martin.
The two supported each other in a difficult initial stage. Martin took his first steps into the world of cinema, and Harvey gradually gained attention in the film industry from an amateur layman who studied acting.
After making his debut, Martin tested the waters of Hollywood and completed a B-movie [Cold-Blooded Thunderbolt].
[Cold-Blooded Thunderbolt Fire], Douban 6.5, IMDb 6.0, Rotten Tomatoes 50%
The film was heavily criticized by John Kasowitz: "You spent a whole year just finishing a piece of garbage. Martin woke up like a dream, suddenly realized, and decided to continue to make his own style of film.
Martin's third film was set for "Poor Streets", and Harvey was soon established as the protagonist. In addition, Martin also hoped that Robert De Niro would be able to participate in the film, and let him pick a role at will, except for the protagonist.
He was already well-known at the time, at least much more famous than Harvey, but as a result, he was asked to play a supporting role for Harvey, and he was naturally a little reluctant in his heart.
If Harvey hadn't come out to persuade him, the famous golden duo in film history might not have appeared. As soon as Robert and Harvey met, the two laughed in unison. The two looked very similar when they were young, and each had a large mole on each face, Robert's on the right side of his face and Harvey's on the left, just symmetrical. Temperamentally, the two also happen to complement each other.
"I knew then he was a great actor." Harvey recalls that he even offered to let the protagonist out, and although Martin rejected the offer, such a move did make Robert grateful.
He suggested that Robert play the supporting role of Johnny, "When you go to a role that you didn't expect to play, you may have unexpected gains." Robert was eventually persuaded by Harvey to officially join Martin's crew.
During the filming process, Harvey's position was naturally impacted. Robert's stunning performance made this little, who was originally a supporting role, quickly become the most eye-catching image in the film.
Harvey did not feel unhappy about this, but in many subsequent films, he willingly played a supporting role for him.
As for Martin's invitation, Harvey never refused. No matter what kind of role, Harvey can be perfectly qualified.
In the lead roles of [Who's Knocking on My Door] and [Poor Streets], he has to show a state of loneliness, confusion, and torture;
In [Once upon a time the sea was shipwrecked as water], it is necessary to play the image of a confident and strong man;
In [Taxi Driver], he surprisingly plays a funny, evil, and improper pimp villain, and finally dies with a shot from the taxi driver played by Robert;
In The Last Temptation of Christ, Martin puts him in a controversial role, Judas, and he doesn't say a word.
In this regard, Harvey is martin's most iron brother, and even Robert runs away as soon as martin shoots troublesome religious scenes. No wonder Martin always admits that working with Harvey Keitel is the most enjoyable.
Joe Percy
It is my pleasure
Age: 76
Number of cooperation: 4
Co-ops: [Angry Bull] (1980) / [Good Guy] (1990) / [Casino Storm] (1995) / [The Irishman] (2019)
Joe Pesci, like Martin Scorsese, was born into an Italian-American family. Joe's parents are ordinary blue-collar workers, and in order to get their children out of this class, they use their hard-earned extra money for their children to learn acting.
When he was a child, Joe was talented, able to sing and dance, and appeared on the Broadway stage at the age of 5 and on TV at the age of 10, living up to his parents' expectations. However, when joe grew up, because of his limited small figure image, the road to acting became more and more bumpy.
It was difficult to have a serious role in the film "Death Collector" (1976), but unfortunately the box office was dismal. Desperate for his stardom, Joe returned to his father's old ways, going to construction sites, restaurants, and working to get by.
"Do you think I'm funny?" More than a decade later, when Joe Pesci said this line in a serious way in "Good Guys", he didn't know how much bitterness of his own life was contained.
[Good guys] (1990)
At his lowest point, without the warm invitation of Martin and Bobby (Robert De Niro's nickname after [Taxi Driver]), Joe might have been doing small restaurants and living an ordinary life.
Bobby has seen [The Death Collector] and loves Joe's performance in it. He and Martin are preparing [the Angry Bull], and it is well known that Martin is also at the bottom of his life.
[Angry Bull] (1980), Douban 8.4, IMDb 8.7, Rotten Tomatoes 96%
Joe Percy, who had been completely discouraged by his career as an actor, was very calm after hearing the film, politely said thank you, and suggested that they find another actor to play. It turned out that Joe Pesci was fully qualified for the role. He and Bobby played a pair of brothers, and in order to adapt to the role, the two began to live and practice together before shooting.
Such an experience made the two very close, plus Martin Scorsese, the three of whom are of italian descent and have a lot of common topics.
The success of [Angry Bull] saved both Joe Percy and Martin's film careers, and Joe's performances in the film were stunning, although they were supporting roles, but many scenes did not even lose to Bobby.
He will actually fight with Bobby in the film, and Bobby breaks a rib. It was all worth it, and Joe Pesci became one of the most iconic figures in Martin's gangster movies.
Joe often plays freely in movies, such as the wonderful "Do You Think I'm Funny" in [Good Guys]. Martin was so relieved about Joe that he let him play, and the film eventually won Joe the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
Little Joe at that time has now become old Joe.
The old partners gathered in [the Irish], how can it be less than the golden partner of the year, Joe Percy, who has not been filmed for a long time, finally went out of the mountain again for his old friend.
Al Pacino
This matter is on the right track
Age: 79
Number of cooperation: 1
Co-film: [The Irishman] (2019)
It's hard to imagine that al Pacino, a well-known gangster professional, is working with Martin for the first time.
You know, Al is also Italian-American, and both he and Martin have inherited Sicilian blood, and they are both iron-boned manhood. Although they had never worked with Martin before, the two had known each other for a long time and admired them for a long time.
However, at that time, Martin was still struggling with low-budget movies, and Uncle Pacino was already valuable and had to be worthy of the status of an A-level big producer. Coppola's [Godfather 2], de Palma's [Scarface], these are the gangster films worth tens of millions, and the ones made by Martin can only be called street gangsters. What's more, Martin already has Bobby (De Niro's nickname) and is already very content.
[Godfather 2] (Top), [Scarface] (Bottom)
At that time, Al and Bobby were like slaying dragons in the sky, and they could win the world with one of them. Al is like a dragon slaying sword, wild and uninhibited, strong and calm; Bobby is similar to the Heavenly Sword, delicate and gentle, light and sharp. There are always people who want to have both of them, but it is not easy to control them at the same time.
Al and Bobby first collaborated in [Godfather 2]. But the two have a space-time line everywhere, and there is no intersection. In 1995,[The Line of Thieves], Al and Bobby, a detective and a robber, are tit-for-tat on the big screen.
[FireLine] (1995)
In 2008, the two once again met in the [Line of Fire Special Attack], improper opponents, as partners, two hot and exciting, wonderful old detectives worked together to investigate the case, tacit understanding. This time the response to the cooperation is mediocre, some people blame the director's incompetence, the two magic weapons, but also can smash the movie; some people say that they are old and will never return to their former glory.
[Line of Fire Attack] (2008)
Ten years on, the two are on the verge of a fourth collaboration, and it's the first with Martin Scorsese. It was originally reported that the three of them had the opportunity to shoot a biographical film of Frank Sinatra together, but the project was later discontinued.
This time [The Irishman], Martin had already established a candidate who could play the union president in the film, Jimmy Hoffa, and none other than Al Pacino.
Martin's films took to politics from the streets and survived for decades, finally having the opportunity to hold two major artifacts at the same time.
[Irish]
[Good guys] take [Scarface Star], [New York gangsters] ally with Italy [Godfather], old horses out of the mountains, the crowd of heroes, one hand leaning on the sky, the other hand slaying the dragon, commanding the world, who dares to fight?