So I watched a discussion on the Directors Guild of America site (Watch here!) between Steve McQueen, Martin Scorsese, David O. Russell, and Paul Greengrass a couple days ago (I placed them in that order because that’s the order that host Jeremy Kagan introduces them...), and amidst each of their wonderful insights and philosophies regarding their creative process, I never fully realized how much of a comedian Scorsese is. Also, and I mean this in the best way possible, but a portion of the discussion, around the 45-minute mark, totally reminded me of the famous laughing scene in “Goodfellas” !!! (Click to watch scene here!) When Henry Hill and the gang are laughing at Tommy Devito’s playful humor, raising the question of whether or not they were laughing because they didn’t want to piss the mob boss off, or because he was genuinely being funny. Either way, DeVito got angry asking “What do you mean I’m funny?” ....and everyone knows the rest. It’s probably one of my favorite scenes in that movie. Not only does it highlight the corruption in power, but shows what people are forced/choose to do when they want that power - going along with the overarching theme in much of Scorsese’s work about the capabilities of good and evil in everyone, and the route people choose according to their environment. Well, Scorsese was actually being really hilarious when he was making all of his candid jokes, but you could totally sense that Russell (who I love as well!) looks up to Scorsese in the same way that Hill looks up to DeVito. I just thought it was something interesting to think about, because all of us find a way to make people we love and respect show that their existence is a gift to the world - especially if we are in their presence. In either case, I was laughing my ass off.
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