How did Tom Cruise help save Martin Scorsese’s crime epic?

Martin Scorsese can be revered One of our greatest living filmmakersbut he often had to fight tooth and nail to bring his vision to the big screen. This is largely due to the box office. Yes, “Raging Bull,” “The King of Comedy” and “Goodfellas” are masterpieces, but they never had much success in theatrical release. So, after constantly being snubbed for an Oscar, he set his sights on making his magnum opus Gangs of New York, when almost every studio in the city refused to finance his dream.

It wasn’t as if he pitched the project to the film industry. Alberto Grimaldi, the famed Italian producer of classic films by Federico Fellini, Sergio Leone and Bernardo Bertolucci, had put out an announcement announcing the film’s production in 1977. But when the New Hollywood revolution died Michael Cimino’s “Heaven’s Gate” fails to break the bank (A great movie no matter how much money it lost), there simply wasn’t much enthusiasm for Gangs of New York.

This changed briefly in the early 1990s when Universal considered greenlighting the project with a $30 million budget, but it never crossed the starting line and was eventually mortgaged to Disney, which wouldn’t do so under family-friendly studio head Joe Roth. Touching extremely violent materials. Finally, in 1999, Miramax, which had just taken home the Oscar for Best Picture for Saving Private Ryan along with Shakespeare in Love, made the decision in part because they thought they could get the Oscar that had been denied to Scorsese for decades Of time. .

Harvey Weinstein, head of Miramax, raised enough financing to ensure that Scorsese could build his circa-1860s sets in the back of the legendary Italian film studio Cinecetta. But at a certain point, he began to refuse some of Scorsese’s camera requests. When Scorsese needed more, and couldn’t get it from his financiers, he turned to one of the biggest movie stars on the planet.

It was Harvey Weinstein’s idea to fly Tom Cruise – who was promoting his horror film “The Others” for Miramax – to Rome to visit the director of “The Color of Money” on the set of the movie he wanted. Trying to make for over 20 years. It was a surprise visit meant to please the Italian-American maestro, but upon seeing Cruz he complained. Scorsese and production designer Dante Ferretti wanted to build a church with a complete interior that would allow the director to create a 360-degree view. Weinstein was against it, but in Scorsese’s opinion it was necessary. Cruise was moved by the director’s call.

In an Entertainment Weekly article About the production of the film, Scorsese said: “Harv was concerned about the internal cost of the church. He was asking question after question. Finally, Tom said: ‘Would you please give Marty the church? “He needs it.”

Put in your place, Weinstein, who is currently serving A total of 39 years in prison Charged with rape and sexual assault, he paid the $100,000 required to complete construction of the church. The production was named after the Holy Temple “Saint Thomas”. The film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards in 2003 but came away empty-handed. Scorsese finally won Best Picture and Director for 2006’s The Departed.