“To Deny It Is Something That Is A Lie”: Martin Scorsese Reveals He Sees Something Of Himself In The Characters Robert De Niro Has Played In His Movies

Martin Scorsese has worked with Robert De Niro for decades and has, over time, started seeing something of himself in the characters that the double-Oscar winner has played, he said today.

Speaking to the BBC, the Killers of the Flower Moon director praised De Niro for “touching a truth about what it is to be a human being and the acceptance of not only the good but the bad and the evil, to the extent where you may deplore his behaviour but as a character you still feel for him.”

Responding to a question on whether “there is a bit of you” in the characters that De Niro has played, Scorsese said: “I’m sure. I would think so. To deny it is something that is a lie.”

He added: “And so if there is an element of it then let’s explore it in myself if I can and I’ve been lucky enough to find these muses like De Niro, and Harvey Keitel, to a certain extent.”

Scorsese has directed De Niro in multiple hit movies down the years including Taxi Driver, The Irishman and, most recently, Killers of the Flower Moon, for which both are Oscar nominated.

Scorsese, who won an Oscar for 2007’s The Departed, also revisited old critiques that he has made of modern movies during the BBC interview.

He said there is an “intimacy of character” that is missing in what he termed “archetype” movies that focus on “the good and the bad.”

“I think of younger people seeing [those films] and thinking cinema may only be that,” he added.

The comment built on critiques Scorsese has made in the past of Marvel movies and other modern franchises, and today he also labeled immersive and 3D movies “almost not films anymore.”