Martin Scorsese speaks up on embracing death
Martin Scorsese has shared that embracing his mortality motivates him to continue making films.
“You just have to let go, especially at this vantage point of age,” the 77-year-old director said in a new interview with The New York Times.
Scorsese said his acceptance of death encourages him to keep working, even after more than half a century in the film industry.
“Often, death is sudden … If you’re given the grace to continue working, then you’d better figure out something that needs telling,” he said.
“As they say in my movie, ‘It’s what it is’ … You’ve got to embrace it.”
The Taxi Driver director said there are other things he wants to carry out apart from producing movies.
“I would love to just take a year and read,” he said. “Listen to music when it’s needed. Be with some friends. Because we’re all going. Friends are dying. Family’s going.
“The problem is, time is limited and energy is so limited – the mind, also, of course ... Thankfully, the curiosity doesn’t end.”
The director also shared that he has not seen the 2019 thriller Joker, which paid homages to his own work. “I saw clips of it,” Scorsese said of Joker. “I know it. So it’s like, why do I need to? I get it. It’s fine.”