An odd habit from legendary director Martin Scorsese has left fans in stitches. His daughter, Francesca Scorsese, brought the strange hobby to light during a recent post on social media. The Hollywood director behind all-time greats like Goodfellas, Silence, and The Irishman seems to be in agreement with fans who frequently watch his work.
Scorsese is said to watch his own films during his downtime, and though that may not be too strange, his daughter says how he watches the films is weird. The Acadmey Awards winner is said to sit down to enjoy one of his own movies, and acts as though he has never seen it before.
A post to X from the cinesthetic account reads: “Francesca Scorsese says her father, Martin Scorsese, sometimes watches his films as though he’s never seen them before.”
Scorsese went on to confirm this, saying: “Something will happen and he’ll be like, ‘Ha! That’s great.’ And I’m like, ‘You literally made this.’”
Some people thought this was hilarious, with one person writing: “That’s just brilliant,” followed by some crying-while-launghing emojis. “Yeah, I love this,” wrote another, sharing the same emojis.
It may be more than a bit of fun for the veteran director though, with fans wondering whether viewings of his own films are to figure out what audiences want from his future works.
One X user suggested: “To really make a film translate you have to be able to view it through other people’s eyes. A good filmmaker is able to watch their work back from multiple people’s perspectives and interpret it through various pairs of ‘fresh eyes’.”
Another joked: “Can’t he like his own work? It’s not like he made Snow White or Megan 2.0…” A third user added: ” That’s the mark of true artist. To sit aloof from your work and look at it with fresh eyes to appreciate it as just another audience. You then know whether the job was well-done.”
Scorsese is not the only person to watch his own films, with legendary performer Samuel L. Jackson saying those who say they cannot watch their own films are lying to themselves.
Jackson said: “We’re in this business because it’s a ‘look at me’ f**king business. If you say you don’t do that s**t, you’re a liar. You’re lying to the people who watch you, even those motherf***ers that go ‘oh, I can’t watch myself on screen,’ well why the f**k should we pay $12.50 to watch your a** if you’re not gonna.”
Scorsese has also featured on screen in a handful of his films, as well as appearing in projects not of his own making. The director had a legendary cameo in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, and also received his first Emmy nomination for acting for his role in The Studio.
One fan added: “Every creative has been pleasantly surprised by his or her own work at one time or another.”