Martin Scorsese was honored with the 14th annual Kirk Douglas Award by the Santa Barbara International Film Festival Thursday night. He received a nice big juicy kiss on the cheek from presenter Leonardo DiCaprio. [via THR]
In his acceptance speech, the legendary director of “Raging Bull,” “Taxi Driver,” “Mean Streets,” “Goodfellas,” and “The King of Comedy” thanked DiCaprio for giving him a “new lease on life,” and how it was DeNiro, after working with the actor of “This Boy’s Life,” who called Scorsese in 1993 and urged him to work with DiCaprio. “He called me, he never does this, and said, ‘You gotta work with this kid, he’s really good.”
“For the past 20 years, he’s given me as a filmmaker, creatively, a new lease on life. I can tell you that. Because I see the same kind of commitment in Leo that Kirk Douglas had. He was inspired in turn by Bob and Al’s generation who was inspired by Kirk’s generation.”
Scorsese then turned his attention to the threats face art in the age of algorithms. “I realize that commitment and dedication to the art form are always rare so, you know, when you see it, this incredible commitment and dedication, please don’t take it for granted. Today, it's a new world, of course, and we have to be extra vigilant. Some actually believe that these qualities that I’m talking about can be replaced by algorithms and formulas and business calculations but please remember it’s all an illusion because there’s no substitute for individual or artistic expression as Kirk Douglas knew and as he expressed through his long film career.”
Despite Scorsese’s latest film, “The Irishman,” being one of his rare films of the 21st century not to star DiCaprio, the 45-year-old actor had glowing words for Scorsese’s 2019 opus “With his latest film, Marty has once again reunited with some of his most iconic collaborators,” he said of the epic which casts Pesci, Keitel, Pacino, and DeNiro, the latter of whom anchors the story as Frank Sheeran, a truck driver turned top hitman. “It plays like an elegy. It’s a movie about looking upon what you’ve left behind and squaring up with all of it, but for me, what’s more astounding about this film, in my mind, Marty transcends his own signature genre and creates a film that methodically transforms itself into an exploration of our very own universally shared mortality. The film is absolutely breathtaking.”
Look for a ranking of the Scorsese/DiCaprio movies (of the last 20 years) to be published later today ...