How Rebecca Miller Helped Martin Scorsese Share His Story in a New Documentary During Covid

Documentary filmmaker Rebecca Miller found inspiration for her latest project, the five-part series Mr. Scorsese on Apple TV, through her husband, actor Daniel Day-Lewis, who is among legendary director Martin Scorsese’s collaborative muses. Securing Scorsese’s participation required an audition-like process and a twist of fate that emerged amid the Covid pandemic.

“She asked him, and he said for me to write a letter,” Miller recalled. “So I wrote him a letter and told him sort of how I would approach it. And then he said, ‘Well, let her come to a meeting. Come meet me.’ So I came and we met, and by the end of it, he was saying, ‘Well, we could shoot here, we should do –’ And I was like, ‘Wait, are we doing … is this something that’s happening?’ And then I called everybody, I said, ‘I think we’re making the movie – at least, wait a minute, hang on a second—’ But it really did happen.”

Only two days after their meeting, the Covid pandemic threatened to derail the project. “But Marty traveled 2½ hours up to my house so that he could sit on the porch – everything outside, of course,” Miller said. “In a weird way, what happened was he suddenly had time. Marty never has any time, but suddenly he had nothing but time because he couldn’t make any films. He was stuck in his little study, and he was so happy.” Miller noted the pandemic brought a contemplative atmosphere, prompting reflections on life, ultimately shaping the direction of their project.

Miller detailed Scorsese’s intent to explore his personal narrative in a new light. “He particularly wanted to kind of open himself in a new way for this. He would often say, ‘Oh, I want to say this in a new way.’ He wanted to meet me really right where I was. Our first interview lasted like four hours. And by the end of it, he was only about 12. And he was basically thinking, ‘Uh-oh, this is going to be a longer process than I thought.’” She added that Scorsese’s openness provided her with invaluable insight.

Miller gained noteworthy perspectives on Scorsese’s relationships with actors, including her husband, Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Joe Pesci, with whom he has collaborated extensively. “He calls them his ‘key collaborators,’” she said. “You really do understand that even though yes, he loves the complex shots, he’s invented a lot of new ways of filmmaking, but central to all of that is the truth he gets from the actors and also the trust he puts in them.”

Miller emphasized that Scorsese’s collaborative spirit has been pivotal to overcoming challenges in his career and personal life. “I think one of the things that I really wanted to highlight in the film was, his genius was someone who really was born with, but without these angels that he encounters in his life,” she explained. Notable figures such as longtime collaborator Thelma Schoonmaker and current manager Rick York have played significant roles in his artistic journey.

Miller addressed the question of why Scorsese has continued to thrive when many peers have not. “Some of it has to do with the magnitude of his talent, of course. Some of that has to do with his immense power of persuasion and the sense that you just want to help him do whatever it is that he needs to do.”

“He has an immense appetite and energy and deep, deep love for cinema,” she added. “As Leonardo DiCaprio says, he would do it for free. It is utterly in his blood and his bones.”