Buzz
by Adam Horowitz
I’ve been immersing myself in Peter Biskind’s tantalizing account of 1970s Hollywood, *Easy Riders, Raging Bulls*, and one key takeaway is that even amidst the era’s newfound freedoms—where the old studio system was crumbling and hippie pioneers were taking charge—becoming a successful filmmaker and maintaining that success was as challenging as ever. Martin Scorsese serves as a prime example of this.
Today, the iconic director with bushy eyebrows is celebrating his fourth decade of filmmaking, having solidified his place as one of cinema’s greatest talents. Yet Scorsese’s early career wasn’t without its hardships. Confronted by all sorts of challenges (many self-inflicted), his unwavering determination is what enabled him to triumph over them. Here are 9 hurdles young Marty faced while chasing his dreams.
*Coke smuggling, a clash with the Manson family, and 7 more to follow...*
Challenge #1: Severe Asthma
Challenge #2: A deep-seated fear of the number 11 (and the pouch of charms he kept around his neck?)
Challenge #3: Struggles with self-doubt about his own work
After high school, Scorsese briefly considered the priesthood and enrolled in seminary studies. However, his true passion led him to the film program at NYU. The two films that inspired him the most were *Citizen Kane* and *Shadows* (the groundbreaking independent film by John Cassavetes). After battling for four years to finish his first feature, *Who's That Knocking at My Door?* (largely funded by his father, starring a young Harvey Keitel who was working as a court stenographer at the time), Scorsese wasn’t sure how the film would be received or who would even see it. A friend arranged for Cassavetes to watch it, and, to Scorsese's astonishment, the legendary director praised it highly: 'This movie is as good as *Citizen Kane*. No, it’s better than *Citizen Kane*, it has more heart.' Scorsese almost passed out upon hearing this praise.
Challenge #4: Struggles with self-esteem in his relationships with women
Challenge #5: The Censorship Board
The finale of Scorsese's masterpiece *Taxi Driver* (1976) is exceptionally violent and graphic; one scene even shows a man’s fingers being blown off in vivid detail. Fearing an X rating, Columbia Pictures insisted that Scorsese completely change the ending and remove all the violence. Scorsese was furious at this demand.
Fearing that the executives might seize the film print, Scorsese hid it in the trunk of his car and sneaked it off the lot.
Eventually, he agreed to trim a few frames of blood spray, but more notably, he proposed desaturating the colors in the scene, making the blood appear slightly less red. The ratings board was satisfied with this change and granted the film an R rating. Ironically, Scorsese was thrilled with the desaturation, as it was something he had always wanted to experiment with. He felt the muted colors made the scene even more shocking!
Challenge #6: Death threats
Challenge #7: Cocaine and its emotional consequences
But soon, addiction took hold, and there was no turning back. At the 1978 Cannes Film Festival, after a series of interviews, Scorsese ran out of cocaine and found himself unable to continue.
'No more coke, no more interviews,' he said. Unable to find any in Cannes, he quickly arranged for a private plane to fly to Paris and bring back a fresh supply.
Meanwhile, Scorsese’s personality began to take a darker turn. 'I was always angry, throwing glasses, provoking people, really unpleasant to be around,' he admits. 'I would always find something to take offense at, no matter what anyone said. I’d be the host, but at some point during the evening, I’d flip out, just like when I’m shooting.' Unsurprisingly, this behavior began to push away some of his closest friends.
Challenge #8: Cocaine and its physical toll
Scorsese describes this period as a two-year descent into an abyss from which he barely emerged alive. He’s blunt about it: it was a path of self-destruction. In his own words: 'It was a matter of pushing the envelope, being bad, seeing how much you could get away with. Embracing a lifestyle to its extreme. I did a lot of drugs because I wanted to experience everything. I wanted to push it all the way to the very end and see if I could die.' He came close to getting his wish that August when he and his friends were sold some 'bad coke.' It mixed with his asthma medication and other prescriptions, causing severe internal bleeding. This was his wake-up call, and thankfully, he heard it and straightened out. (Interestingly, Scorsese says this moment of clarity about his own self-destructive nature gave him the insight needed to create his next masterpiece, *Raging Bull*.)
