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American director
Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...
and American actor
Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...
have made nine feature films and one short film together since 1973. Many of them are often ranked among the greatest films of all time.


Relationship

In 1967, Scorsese made his first feature-length film, the black and white ''I Call First'', which was later retitled ''
Who's That Knocking at My Door ''Who's That Knocking at My Door'', originally titled ''I Call First'', is a 1967 American independent drama film written and directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Harvey Keitel and Zina Bethune. It was Scorsese's feature film directorial de ...
'', with fledgling actor
Harvey Keitel Harvey Keitel ( ; born May 13, 1939) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of morally ambiguous and "tough guy" characters. He first rose to prominence during the New Hollywood movement, and has held a long-running association wit ...
. The film was intended to be the first of Scorsese's semi-autobiographical "J. R. trilogy," which also would have included his later film, ''
Mean Streets ''Mean Streets'' is a 1973 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese and co-written by Scorsese and Mardik Martin. The film stars Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro. It was released by Warner Bros. on October 2, 1973. De Niro won the Nati ...
''. Scorsese had impressed many with the film and made friends with
Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five ...
,
Brian De Palma Brian Russell De Palma (born September 11, 1940) is an American film director and screenwriter. With a career spanning over 50 years, he is best known for his work in the suspense, crime and psychological thriller genres. De Palma was a leading ...
,
George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the ''Star Wars'' and '' Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as cha ...
,
Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Sp ...
, and
Robert Zemeckis Robert Lee Zemeckis (born May 14, 1952) is an American filmmaker. He first came to public attention as the director of the action-adventure romantic comedy ''Romancing the Stone'' (1984), the science-fiction comedy ''Back to the Future'' film tr ...
, known as the influential " movie brats" of the 1970s. It was De Palma who introduced Scorsese to the young actor Robert De Niro. De Niro had known De Palma for several years previously, and his first film role in collaboration with De Palma materialized in 1963 at the age of 20, when he appeared in '' The Wedding Party''. However, the film was not released until 1969. The two reunited for the 1968 film ''
Greetings Greeting is an act of communication in which human beings intentionally make their presence known to each other, to show attention to, and to suggest a type of relationship (usually cordial) or social status (formal or informal) between indivi ...
'', which was De Niro's official film debut.


Collaboration chart


Films


''Mean Streets'' (1973)

In 1973, De Niro had been praised for his role in '' Bang the Drum Slowly'' while Scorsese had been working as an editor on the movie ''
Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...
''. The same year, Scorsese and De Niro collaborated for the first time on the gangster film ''Mean Streets''. Scorsese had been taught that entertaining films can be shot with little money by
Roger Corman Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has been called "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are based on works t ...
, who had helped prepare Scorsese for the difficulties of making ''Mean Streets''. The film, about a small-time gangster living in
Little Italy Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian culture. There are s ...
, was a success and in 1997 was selected for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...
by the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the '' de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It was also listed in a BBC poll as the 93rd best American film.


''Taxi Driver'' (1976)

Hugely popular, the film was directed by Scorsese and starred De Niro. It caused controversy, but still had a huge cultural impact. The line " You talkin' to me?", spoken by De Niro's character
Travis Bickle Travis Bickle is a fictional character and the anti-hero protagonist of the 1976 film ''Taxi Driver'' directed by Martin Scorsese. The character was created by the film's screenwriter Paul Schrader. He is played by Robert De Niro, who received a ...
, has become one of the most famous lines in film history. Scorsese makes a credited cameo in this film as a passenger of Bickle's who plans to kill his wife.


''New York, New York'' (1977)

In 1977, De Niro starred in Scorsese's ''New York, New York'', a musical-drama film. It was a musical tribute, featuring new songs by
John Kander John Harold Kander (born March 18, 1927) is an American composer, known largely for his work in the musical theater. As part of the songwriting team Kander and Ebb (with lyricist Fred Ebb), Kander wrote the scores for 15 musicals, including ''C ...
and
Fred Ebb Fred Ebb (April 8, 1928 – September 11, 2004) was an American musical theatre lyricist who had many successful collaborations with composer John Kander. The Kander and Ebb team frequently wrote for such performers as Liza Minnelli and Chita Riv ...
as well as standards, to Scorsese's home town of
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, and starred De Niro and
Liza Minnelli Liza May Minnelli ( ; born March 12, 1946) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and choreographer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli is among a rare group of performers awarded an Emmy, Grammy ...
as a pair of musicians and lovers. During filming, the married Scorsese became romantically involved with Minnelli and began heavily using
cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Ame ...
and other hard
narcotics The term narcotic (, from ancient Greek ναρκῶ ''narkō'', "to make numb") originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with numbing or paralyzing properties. In the United States, it has since become associated with opiates ...
. At the time
Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...
wrote in his diary that Minnelli and Scorsese showed up at the door of a famous fashion designer demanding: "Give me every drug you've got". Made after ''Taxi Driver'', the film was a box-office failure. Its budget was $14 million, a large figure at the time, but it grossed only $13 million at the box-office and its disappointing reception and his breakup with Minnelli drove Scorsese into depression and further into drug abuse.


''Raging Bull'' (1980)

In 1980, Scorsese made ''Raging Bull'', a film starring De Niro as emotionally self-destructive boxer Jake LaMotta. The film follows LaMotta's journey through life as the violence and temper that leads him to the top in the ring destroys his life outside it. De Niro won an Oscar for his role and Scorsese was nominated as best director; the film collected six other Oscar nominations as well. The film has been considered one of the greatest films of all time, and was chosen as the best sports film ever by the
American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Leade ...
.


''The King of Comedy'' (1983)

In 1982, Scorsese and De Niro made their first film to feature several comedic elements, while still being connected with the crime genre. The film follows aspiring comic Rupert Pupkin (De Niro), who wants to achieve success in showbiz, by resorting to stalking his idol, a late night talk show host who craves privacy. The film won a BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay, and was nominated for four other BAFTAs, including Best Direction for Scorsese and Best Actor for De Niro. The film was generally praised by critics but did not perform well in the United States. Scorsese suggested the film "...maybe wasn't so well received because it gave off an aura of something that people didn't want to look at or know."


''Goodfellas'' (1990)

De Niro and Scorsese collaborated again in 1990 on ''
Goodfellas ''Goodfellas'' (stylized ''GoodFellas'') is a 1990 American biographical crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, and produced by Irwin Winkler. It is a film adaptation of the 1985 nonfiction book '' W ...
'', which also starred Ray Liotta and
Joe Pesci Joseph Frank Pesci ( , ; born February 9, 1943) is an American actor and musician. He is known for portraying tough, volatile characters in a variety of genres and for his collaborations with Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese in the films ''Rag ...
. The film follows Henry Hill (Liotta) as he and his friends work their way up through the mob. ''Goodfellas'' was incredibly successful and won five BAFTAs. It was beaten in most categories at the Oscars by ''
Dances with Wolves ''Dances with Wolves'' is a 1990 American epic western film starring, directed, and produced by Kevin Costner in his feature directorial debut. It is a film adaptation of the 1988 novel '' Dances with Wolves'' by Michael Blake that tells the ...
'', but achieved universal acclaim with critics and is considered one of the greatest films of all time. In 2005, it was named the greatest film of all time by British magazine
Total Film ''Total Film'' is a British film magazine published 13 times a year (published monthly and a summer issue is added every year since issue 91, 2004, which is published between July and August issue) by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched i ...
.


''Cape Fear'' (1991)

1991's ''Cape Fear'' sees De Niro star as a convicted rapist, released from prison after serving a 14-year sentence, who stalks the family of the defense lawyer who represented him but deliberately suppressed evidence that would have acquitted him. It is a remake of the 1962 film of the same name. The film received generally favorable reviews and was nominated for two Oscars and two BAFTAs.
Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Sp ...
was an executive producer.


''Casino'' (1995)

1995 saw De Niro and Scorsese reunite with Pesci after 1990's ''Goodfellas'' for ''Casino''. The film revolved around greed, deception, money, power, and murder that occur between two mobster best friends and a
trophy wife A trophy wife is a wife who is regarded as a status symbol for the husband. The term is often used in a derogatory or disparaging way, implying that the wife in question has little personal merit besides her physical attractiveness, requires subs ...
over a gambling empire. The film received critical acclaim, with Michael Wilmington of the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'' saying "You can't praise highly enough the contributions of the ensemble – De Niro and Pesci especially – but it's Scorsese's triumph."
Sharon Stone Sharon Vonne Stone (born March 10, 1958) is an American actress. Known for primarily playing femme fatales and women of mystery on film and television, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1990s. She is the recipient of variou ...
received an Oscar nomination for her role.


''The Audition'' (2015)

Scorsese and De Niro collaborated for the first time in two decades for ''The Audition'', a 2015
short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...
that served as a promotional piece for casinos Studio City in
Macau, China Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a popu ...
and City of Dreams in
Manila, Philippines Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populated ...
. The short united Scorsese's two muses, De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, for the first time on film under his direction.


''The Irishman'' (2019)

An epic crime film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by
Steven Zaillian Steven Ernest Bernard Zaillian (born January 30, 1953) is an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award for his screenplay ''Schindler's List'' (1993) and has earned Oscar no ...
, based on the book '' I Heard You Paint Houses'' by
Charles Brandt Charles Brandt is an American former investigator, writer, and speaker. He wrote Frank Sheeran's memoir '' I Heard You Paint Houses'', the basis for the 2019 film ''The Irishman'', directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Al P ...
. The film stars Robert De Niro as
Frank Sheeran Francis Joseph Sheeran (October 25, 1920 – December 14, 2003), also known as "The Irishman", was an American labor union official and enforcer for Jimmy Hoffa and Russell Bufalino. He was accused of having links to the Pittston crime family ...
, a labor union leader and alleged hitman for the Bufalino crime family,
Al Pacino Alfredo James Pacino (; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he has received numerous accolades: including an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy A ...
as
Jimmy Hoffa James Riddle Hoffa (born February 14, 1913 – disappeared July 30, 1975; declared dead July 30, 1982) was an American labor union leader who served as the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) from 1957 until 1971. F ...
, and
Joe Pesci Joseph Frank Pesci ( , ; born February 9, 1943) is an American actor and musician. He is known for portraying tough, volatile characters in a variety of genres and for his collaborations with Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese in the films ''Rag ...
as
Russell Bufalino Russell Alfred Bufalino (; born Rosario Alfredo Bufalino, ; September 29, 1903 – February 25, 1994) was an Italian-American mobster who became the crime boss of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Italian-American Mafia crime family known as the ...
. The film marks the first time Pacino has been directed by Scorsese.


''Killers of the Flower Moon''

In October 2018, it was announced that DiCaprio and Scorsese were re-teaming for a film adaptation of
David Grann David Elliot Grann (born March 10, 1967) is an American journalist, a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' magazine, and a best-selling author. His first book, '' The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon,'' was published by D ...
's ''
Killers of the Flower Moon ''Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI'' is the third non-fiction book by the American journalist David Grann. The book was released on April 18, 2017 by Doubleday. ''Time'' magazine listed ''Killers of the Flo ...
'', about the
Osage Indian murders The Osage Indian murders were a series of murders of Osage Native Americans in Osage County, Oklahoma, during the 1910s–1930s; newspapers described the increasing number of unsolved murders as the Reign of Terror, lasting from 1921 to 1926. So ...
. In summer 2019, it was confirmed that Robert De Niro will star alongside DiCaprio. Shooting was postponed from its original start date due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, but ultimately began in April 2021.


Other

De Niro and Scorsese both lend their voices as
supporting character A supporting character is a character in a narrative that is not the focus of the primary storyline, but is important to the plot/protagonist, and appears or is mentioned in the story enough to be more than just a minor character or a cameo ap ...
s in the 2004 animated film ''
Shark Tale ''Shark Tale'' is a 2004 American computer-animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. The film was directed by Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron, and Rob Letterman (in his feature directorial deb ...
''. De Niro voices Don Lino, a
shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimo ...
and leader of an Italian-style mob. Scorsese voices Sykes, a
pufferfish Tetraodontidae is a family of primarily marine and estuarine fish of the order Tetraodontiformes. The family includes many familiar species variously called pufferfish, puffers, balloonfish, blowfish, blowies, bubblefish, globefish, swellfi ...
and
loan shark A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high interest rates, has strict terms of collection upon failure, and generally operates outside the law. Description Because loan sharks operate mostly illegally, they cannot reasonably ...
, who once worked with Don Lino. As do all the other significant characters in the film, Don Lino and Sykes are animated to somewhat resemble or caricaturize their voice actors. De Niro and Scorsese also co-star (albeit Scorsese has a relatively minor supporting role) in
Irwin Winkler Irwin Winkler (born May 28, 1931) is an American film producer and director. He is the producer or director of over 58 motion pictures, dating back to 1967's '' Double Trouble'', starring Elvis Presley. The fourth film he produced, '' They Shoot ...
’s 1991 film '' Guilty by Suspicion''. Winkler had previously worked as a producer on such Scorsese-De Niro collaborations as ''
New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
'', ''
Raging Bull ''Raging Bull'' is a 1980 American Biographical film, biographical Sports film, sports Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, produced by Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler and adapted by Paul Schrader and Mardik ...
'' and ''
Goodfellas ''Goodfellas'' (stylized ''GoodFellas'') is a 1990 American biographical crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, and produced by Irwin Winkler. It is a film adaptation of the 1985 nonfiction book '' W ...
''.


References

*
Scorsese Wants Pacino/De Niro as Frank Sinatra/Dean Martin


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scorsese, Martin and De Niro, Robert Filmmaking duos De Niro, Robert Robert De Niro