Apple TV+ is readying a five-part documentary on legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese. Directed by Rebecca Miller, Mr. Scorsese promises conversation and material hirthero unexplored, not even in the earlier documentaries on the celebrated Hollywood veteran. It premiered at the New York Film Festival this week, and the following roundtable interaction was covered by entertainment outlet Deadline.
Miller said the documentary, which premiere on Apple TV+ on October 17, came out of around 20 hours of conversation that Miller and Scorsese engaged in over a period of five years.
"So there would be these conversations that would last five hours. I remember once we literally lost the light, because I realized at a certain point that he was much better if everyone left the room. So I would let the crew leave, we would set up the cameras, and then they would leave, and it would really feel like we were alone. And as time would go on, we really did forget. I mean, in fact, the framing was crazy," she said.
Miller added that Scorsese was very particular about being honest and go into places that he previously didn't. “We had to do a lot of adjustments, but it was worth it, because there was just something he decided, I think, to honor this thing that he decided to do with a certain kind of honesty and an openness and an unwillingness to kind of tread the ground that he’d already tread. He really wanted to till new earth, I guess, and, I think that was the that. So that was always the backbone. And then everything came from those conversations, like all my archival dives and all my searches.”
Miller and team promise "exclusive, unrestricted access" to Scorsese’s private archives, and testimonials from not only Scorsese but also his friends, family, and his collaborators such as Robert De Niro, Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mick Jagger, Robbie Robertson, Thelma Schoonmaker, Steven Spielberg, Sharon Stone, Jodie Foster, Paul Schrader, Margot Robbie, Cate Blanchett, Jay Cocks and Rodrigo Prieto.
Notably, Scorsese's last film Killers of the Flower Moon was backed by Apple.