Scorsese: “I’m Old. I Want to Tell Stories, But There’s No More Time”

Cannes, opening night. Here I am, ready to go. I secured a ticket for the only “Killers of the Flower Moon” screening. Thank the cinematic heavens.

Martin Scorsese is starting the press rounds for ‘Killers.’ His first interview was just published, it’s with Deadline’s Mike Fleming Jr. A lengthy talk that has Scorsese going through various different topics.

I’ll have more on this interview as the day goes. What I want to zero in on for now is the way the interview ends, on a very sobering note.

DEADLINE: You’re 80. Do you still have that fire to get right back behind the camera and get the next one going?

SCORSESE: Got to. Got to. Yeah. I wish I could take a break for eight weeks and make a film at the same time [laughs]. The whole world has opened up to me, but it’s too late. It’s too late.

DEADLINE: What do you mean by that?

SCORSESE: I’m old. I read stuff. I see things. I want to tell stories, and there’s no more time. Kurosawa, when he got his Oscar, when George [Lucas] and Steven [Spielberg] gave it to him, he said, “I’m only now beginning to see the possibility of what cinema could be, and it’s too late.” He was 83. At the time, I said, “What does he mean?” Now I know what he means.

Crushingly emotional. There is a finiteness to all of our lives. Scorsese at 80 knows it, but he’s going to keep on going. He lives and breathes cinema.

I can see him continuing to make movies until his very last breath, much like what Paul Schrader is currently doing.

His next film is supposed to be “The Wager” with Leonardo DiCaprio, I really hope that one gets made. It’ll hopefully go into pre-production once the ‘Killers’ hullabaloo settles down. He takes years in between projects, but maybe he won’t with this one.

Scorsese’s achievements are numerous — Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Mean Streets, Casino .. it’s impossible to really pick a favorite.

“Killers of the Flower Moon” is set to screen at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday.