Why Martin Scorsese Wants to Use 3-D for All His Movies
Posted 11.29.11 by Ryan
Hugo, Academy Award–winning director Martin Scorsese's latest movie, opened last weekend in fifth place, not bad given that it opened in half the number of theaters compared to its competition. In fact, while Paramount is planning a wider release to start in December, Hugo's opening is the third best for a Scorsese movie, behind just Shutter Island and The Departed.
Based on the 2007 novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, Hugo is Scorsese's first foray into a children's story as well as his first time shooting a movie in 3-D, not that he hasn't wanted to use the currently ubiquitous format. Scorsese recently told Deadline that he's wanted to work with it "since I saw my first 3-D film back in 1953, House of Wax." The results have Scorsese thinking that he might use 3-D for his upcoming projects as well.
Quite honestly, I would. I don’t think there’s a subject matter that can’t absorb 3D; that can’t tolerate the addition of depth as a storytelling technique. We view everyday life with depth. I think certain subject matters aren’t meant for 3D but you have to go back to Technicolor; when it was used in 1935 with Becky Sharp. For about 10-15 years, Technicolor was relegated to musicals, comedies and westerns. It wasn’t intended for the serious genres, but now everything is in color. And so it’s just a different mindset. Granted once the technology advances and you can eliminate glasses that are hindrances to some moviegoers, so why not? It’s just a natural progression.
What project Scorsese will tackle next is up in the air. The director recently landed the director's chair to an adaptation of Norwegian author Jo Nesbø's novel The Snowman, but there's no word yet on when that would start production.
Instead, Scorsese could work on an adaptation of a Shusaku Endo novel, Silence, which tells the story of Jesuit Priests who risk their lives to bring Christianity to Japan in the 17th Century. "It’s been an obsession, it has to be done and now is the time to do it," Scorsese told Deadline of Silence. "It’s a strong, wonderful true story, a thriller in a way, but it deals with those questions [of spirituality]."
Then there's The Irishman, the adaptation that Scorsese has been attached to since 2010, which would chronicle the life of mafia hitman Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran and would reunite the director with Robert De Niro. Scorsese recently told MTV that The Irishman he would like to shoot that "next year" while an undisclosed screenwriter works on another draft of a Frank Sinatra biopic that would star Leonardo DiCaprio as the late singer and could be in 3-D. "Why not?" Scorsese told MTV. (DiCaprio is also attached to star on a remake of 1974's The Gambler with Scorsese at the helm.)
Whichever project Scorsese does next, however, it seems that 3-D may also be along for the ride. "The fun part [of making movies] is trying new things," Scorsese told USA Today last week. "It's still magic. Someday, movies will just be holograms. I'd like to make one of those, too."
Hugo is currently in theaters and tells the story of an orphaned twelve-year-old boy (Asa Butterfield) who lives inside a train station in 1931 Paris. While hiding from the station's inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen), Hugo befriends Isabelle (Chloe Moretz) and attempts to fix the mechanical man created by his late, clockmaker father (Jude Law). The movie was receiving considerable Oscar buzz prior to its release.