1. He directed Liza Minelli, then also Juliette Lewis in her not humble beginnings at all, but he also directed Sharon Stone! Oh, yes he did; Casino (1995) earned Sharon an Oscar nomination and tonight is your night, it screens at the Cinematheque at 20.30.
2. It was him who gave that BAD (1987) image to Michael Jackson. Well, he directed the music clip, at least. Piece of cake for him, as it was choreographing a New York gang in the underground. The full-length was 16 minutes and the clip was shot both in black and white, and colour, even if we only get to see an abridged colour version.
3. This year is definitely his year: Hugo screens everywhere and moves everybody, Retrospectives all around, Baftas and all. As if this was not enough, the famous by now (less than a week after its revelation) "Scorsese List" -not to confond with Shindlers' List is shaking the web. If you haven't heard, it's a list of films he once sent to a new film-maker, so to say, to educate him. It look long for the guy to actually dedicate himself to the list, which consists mainly of films that make the Film History canon at film schools. Tziga Vertof and The Man with the Camera is nowhere to be found.
4. Scorsese loves celluloid, you bet he does, he's the old generation guy for all of us. What's more, he talks about film and its qualities and the relationship between the actual medium (the film stock) and the craftsmen using it in such a way...that's love at first sight, it's clear. It didn't wither a tiny bit.
5. I'm sure you know Taxi Driver 1976) with a preposterous Robert De Niro. You also know that it's Scorsese's deed. Maybe you also heard of Raging Bull (1980) -more De Niro there. It can be that you've heard of Goodfellas (1990). But, the two of them worked together not only in three, but in eight films on total. In half of them De Niro is disturbing, I'm telling you.
6. His numerous fans are very lucky that Scorsese actually found his way in the film business. His next best thing would be the monastery or a Catholic parish; he did give serious consideration to priesthood, originally. It only explains his thematic obsession with Catholicism, sins and the like.
7. Religiousness set aside, Scorsese was married four times, one of the lucky (or should I rather say unlucky?) spouses is Isabella Rosellini.
8. He has a thing for pop stars. He often casts them in his films for cameos or bigger roles. Noticeably, he had David Bowie playing Pontius Pilatus, Kris Kristofferson as the male lead in Alice, Queen Latifah and Marc Anthony in Bringing out the Dead and a bunch of others appearing in The Aviator: Gwen Stefani, Rufus Wainwight et cetera.
9. He is one of the fifty people who is not allowed to enter Tibet, due to a Kundun-induced clash with Chinese officials. Poor thing, Tibet is such an attraction!
10. The "Made by Scorsese" Retrospective in Cinematheque Luxembourg continues for one more month. I bet you didn't know. Oh, yes, the Scorsese of 2000 is coming up on April! Stay tuned.
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