Update: Paul Thomas Anderson also discussed the film with Spielberg, which you can see by clicking on the second photo and going to the first video.
In 1967, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese met, showing each other their respective early films Encounter and The Big Shave. Nearly 50 years later, after dozens of iconic films to their name, they continue their friendship, and today we have something quite special: a one-hour DGA conversation that the pair held last week for Bridge of Spies.
While the first 35 minutes or so of the talk has to do with Spielberg’s latest recommended film (much of which he already discussed), they do reflect a bit on their legendary careers. One particularly great story has to do with Scorsese asking Spielberg for help in the editing room with Taxi Driver. Fearful that the MPAA would hand them an X rating, the studio pressured him to cut down the iconic, bloody climax. The resolution they came to? Desaturate the color, which indeed passed the MPAA’s R rating.
We said in our review of Spielberg’s latest, “There are two sides to every conflict, and within each are intricacies and viewpoints that can cause either faction to erupt if the scales are tipped. The stakes for such a quarrel have rarely been higher than in the Cold War, a battle consisting of dueling ideologies rather than all-out warfare, one where a single word or gesture from a side could have unimaginable ripple effects. Despite the eventual outcome being apparent, Steven Spielberg rightfully found this sort of articulated combat to be ripe for drama in his latest film, Bridge of Spies.”
Check out the full conversation with Scorsese below and for PTA, click the image and go to the video on the page, as it’s not embeddable. Another recent Bridge of Spies talk is available after the screencaps.
Bridge of Spies opens on October 16th.