Scorsese disses Oscar ceremony

Martin Scorsese

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After three decades of waiting to win an Academy Award, film director Martin Scorsese says a victory tonight for "The Aviator" would be meaningless.

In an interview with London's Sunday Times, Scorsese was asked if there would still be any impact on him were his name to be read as the winner of the best director award at the Hollywood event.

"No longer," he said. "I studied for 33 years. Maybe in the '70s it would have been nice."

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Scorsese directed classic films including "Raging Bull," "Goodfellas," and "Taxi Driver," the 1976 movie which helped inspire the real-life assassination attempt on President Reagan.

"The disappointment was overwhelming," Scorsese said of his failure to take the Oscar for "Taxi Driver." "By the time we got to Raging Bull [in 1980], which had seven nominations including me, but Robert Redford won, I just said, 'I will never win.'"

Scorsese told the Times many of his films, including the portrayal of mafia sadism in "Goodfellas" are "all about depicting human suffering."

He criticized the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for what he calls its tendency to reward safe and banal pictures.

"It is aimed at ordinary people: the thinking is 'you want to send them to see 'Goodfellas' rather than 'Dances with Wolves'? Sorry, that could be a problem.'"

He continued: "A lot of people said there was too much pointless violence in 'Goodfellas,' but to me there is no such thing." He maintains he tries to be honest about violence, not looking to glorify it. Responding to critics and censors, Scorsese told the paper "violence is still all right if it is stylized, but not the violence I do."

Scorsese is concerned freedom of expression is being encroached upon by political pressures.

Citing the British film "Vera Drake," which centers on an abortionist, Scorsese says because of the rise of Christian fundamentalism, "main characters in Hollywood films can't have abortions."

In 1988, Scorsese ignited the anger of many Christians with "The Last Temptation of Christ." At the crucifixion, the film showed Jesus tempted by an alluring image of a pleasant life with Mary Magdelene to try to prompt him to refuse his own sacrifice.

Scorsese also blasted political correctness from the left as being a strong censor.

"You can hardly say anything about minorities now. It has made it extremely difficult to open your mouth."

Editor's note: Scorsese did not win the Oscar for best director for "The Aviator." The prize went to Clint Eastwood for "Million Dollar Baby."

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