Finally, in James Toback’s documentary Seduced And Abandoned, Martin Scorsese said that he had realized all his films have to do with “an obligation to the brother,” and he specifically cited his father’s relationship to his brother. We asked if that relates to Donnie and Jordan in some way, and then thinking about this relationship with Leonardo, we asked if he would describe their relationship as brotherly, friendly, or father/son:
Martin Scorsese: So let me see if I got that right, that’s a three part question? [Laughs] The first answer is yes, I think a lot of it has to do with obligation and responsibility – my brother’s keeper. When there’s no restraint, do you have the responsibility? What happens to your responsibility ultimately when there’s no moral restraint? That’s Mean Streets, it’s the same picture it turns out, and that’s one of the reasons it took me a while to get into it. We started building up the Donnie thing even more. I saw them, I saw over the years very, very personally devastating relationships fall apart, trying to hold themselves together, dying within six moths of each other – they’re still tied together. That certainly has been something throughout every one of the films I’ve made.
Leonardo DiCaprio: I can answer it just from my perspective. With Gangs Of New York, I’d been wanting to work with this man for a long period time. I remember my father taking me to see one of Marty’s movies and saying, “If you have an opportunity and if you have a green light in this industry, there’s one person you should work with – this man.” I sought out trying to work with him and it culminated in Gangs Of New York, and since then it’s been this great relationship where we’ve trusted each other more and more, we’ve realized we have a lot similar sensibilities and the types of movies we want to do, and we have an acute understanding for what a scene should be – a lot of times it’s unspoken.
More than that, everyday for me it’s just an honor to be on set with someone like this. He reinforces in you what making movies is about. Sometimes people forget, sometimes people say things and you can go off on different diversions, but a couple things he just said to me on this film, it’s always a learning experience. We’re doing a film about pretty disreputable, despicable people, and we had a lot of conversation about, “OK, will audiences go along on the journey with us,” and he said one thing to me that I’ll never forget, that was my mantra through this film. “Look, as long as you portray these people for what they are, you don’t try to sugarcoat them, apologize for their actions, or depict them in any way other than authentically what they are, audiences will go along with you.” That was like the green light for this entire process, and it’s a great mantra for making movies in general. As far as our relationship, yeah, he’s a mentor to me, and I learn so much every time I’m on set with him.
Martin Scorsese: The element there is trust – creative trust. It’s been remarkable in the later part of my life to find someone I can collaborate with who rejuvenates me every time. “Oh, I want to do this picture and I want to do that,” but eventually it comes around to sometimes I feel over the years the pictures I made and the others I didn’t have an affinity to immediately are the ones they knew more than me what I was right for. In any event, it has to do with trust. If I talk to him that way and he accepts it, he knows where he’s going. It isn’t a matter of every day having to say that. If it’s every day, then we can’t make the picture.
That concludes the press conference but we’d like to thank all of the talent for participating. Be sure to catch The Wolf Of Wall Street when it opens Christmas Day!