Martin Scorsese Almost Stopped Making Films After 'The Aviator'

Martin Scorsese has revealed that he almost quit filmmaking after his 2005 directorial "The Aviator" but eventually chose to stick around. In a profile piece for The New York Times, the veteran filmmaker, who has delivered yet-another masterpiece with "The Irishman", said he felt "drained" after working on 1995 mob drama "Casino".

The newspaper noted that Scorsese was fed up of "butting heads" with studio executives who wanted the running times of his movies "shortened".

And by the time of 2005 movie "The Aviator", which featured his frequent collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes, Scorsese sort of made up his mind to leave the business.

"The last two weeks of editing and mixing 'The Aviator', I had left the business from the stress. I said if this is the way you have to make films then I'm not going to do it anymore," the filmmaker said.

After that experience, Scorsese came to believe that the traditional Hollywood studios are his "mortal enemies".

"It's like being in a bunker and you're firing out in all directions. You begin to realise you're not speaking the same language anymore, so you can't make pictures anymore," he added.

That is probably why Scorsese chose to make "The Irishman" with streamer Netflix. The film, featuring the trinity of veteran actors Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci, had a runtime of 3 hours and 3 minutes.