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Image credit: The Departed: Andrew Cooper

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Martin Scorsese

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[Kind of winces] I don't know. I don't know how to do it. I don't know what they would be hiring me for.

What are you doing next?
I've got a project based on a book by a great Japanese author named Endo called Silence. It takes place in 17th-century Japan and it's about Jesuit missionaries and what they go through. It's about faith. I'm hoping we can find a way to shoot it inexpensively, but not too quickly. I like a lot of days to shoot.

Eighteen years ago, your film The Last Temptation of Christ was boycotted by Christian groups. Could you relate to Mel Gibson and the Passion of the Christ controversy?
Well, I think he generated controversy and criticism for just the opposite reasons I did. I think a lot of people who went to see his film are not people who would be interested in seeing mine. In a way his film is like medieval fresco painting that goes through the Passion of Jesus, and going to the film becomes almost part of a religious act. Like walking the stations of the cross. Whereas, in Last Temptation, we were trying to open up discussion about faith and about Jesus and the concept of who's considered good and bad. Is Judas the worst one or the best one? We're not saying that's the gospel, all we were saying was let's talk about it.

When Peter O'Toole received an honorary Oscar in 2003, he said at the time that he'd still like to win one competitively. How do you feel about being nominated for Best Director five times and never winning?
I think too much has been written about it. It's a matter of timing, and a lot of the pictures I've made are nasty and tough. It's natural that some people would react against that. There have been a lot of people who received Oscars when their other films were better and the Academy was catching up. But that's something I have no control over. The important thing for me was getting pictures like Taxi Driver and Raging Bull made. To be honest, I've gotten away with a lot within the Hollywood system.

Originally posted Sep 22, 2006 Published in issue #899 Sep 29, 2006 Order article reprints

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