'Hugo' Director Martin Scorsese Speaks On His Productivity, Legacy

'One tries to do the best you can with each picture, hopefully continue making them,' renowned filmmaker tells us.
By Kara Warner with reporting by Josh Horowitz

Asa Butterfield in "Hugo"
Photo: Paramount Pictures

Martin Scorsese's career is one of such significance and acclaim that the Oscar-winning director could retire from the business right now, knowing that his living-legend status would remain intact. It is clear he has no plans to slow down, however, due to the fact that in the last year alone, he's been involved in five feature film and documentary projects, the most recent being his first family-oriented film, the critically acclaimed "Hugo."

When MTV News caught up with Scorsese recently, we asked him to explain the secrets behind his productivity. "There seems to be a sort of urgency, an interest in making comments on certain aspects of life and the world around me, the people, culture today," Scorsese said when asked if he's working under his own self-imposed deadlines or urgency to complete projects. "Whether it's trying to deal with how art inspires a young person — and that is 'A Letter to Elia' — or trying to create a spectacle of American enterprise and corruption as [with] Terry Winter and his show that I'm working on with him, 'Boardwalk Empire,' or people speaking their minds and very strong opinions, like Fran Lebowitz in 'Public Speaking,' but even more so was working for five or six years on 'George Harrison: Living in the Material World,' with David Tedeschi. That is interesting because that was finished at the same time as 'Hugo.' Those five projects were finally released all within one year."

We then asked if with this sudden urgency, Scorsese is conscious or concerned with preserving his legacy as a filmmaker.

"Not really, maybe I [was] at one point," he admitted. "I'm not quite sure anymore. I don't really know. I think at one point in the early '90s, there seemed to be a lot of films being made here in America and in China and around the world that had been inspired by 'Mean Streets' ... that may still be the case that may not be the case, I don't know anymore. One tries not to think of that. One tries to do the best you can with each picture, hopefully continue making them and that they mean something, that they matter to people."

Check out everything we've got on "Hugo."

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