Legendary film director Martin Scorsese has joined Letterboxd, a social media site where users can share films they’ve enjoyed, the website posted on its Twitter account.
Scorsese, fresh off the release of his much anticipated “Killers Of The Flower Moon” film, posted a list of “companion” films to his own collection, noting “the terms ‘inspiration’ and ‘influence’ aren’t completely accurate.”
“Sometimes the relationship is based on inspiration. Sometimes it’s the relationships between the characters. Sometimes it’s the spirit of the picture. Sometimes it’s far more mysterious than that,” the Academy Award winner claimed.
“You always learn something, see something in a new light, because every movie is in conversation with every other movie.”
On his Letterboxd, Martin Scorsese has shared a list of 59 films that serve as “companions” to his own pictures.
See the full list: https://t.co/pNWisnR8Si pic.twitter.com/LYbFPK6Lzt
— Letterboxd (@letterboxd) October 26, 2023
A notable film in the list includes the 1957 classic “Sweet Smell Of Success” as a companion to Scorsese’s box office monster, “The Wolf Of Wall Street.”
“Pure lust for greed and power assumes an endless variety of forms.” Scorsese noted. “Here, in one of the best American films ever made, we’re in the cutthroat world of show business and big media, crossing paths with politics.” (RELATED: Martin Scorsese’s ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’ Trailer Released)
Other notable films include the original 1960 hit “Ocean’s Eleven” as a companion to “Goodfellas” and a 1947 noir piece “Out Of The Past,” which Scorsese showed to Leonardo DiCaprio in preparation for “Shutter Island.”
“There’s a metaphysical level to the movie, in that it deals with the past as a presence, a force,” Scorsese revealed. “I had that very much in mind when I made ‘Shutter Island.'”
Film buffs rejoiced at “The Irishman” director’s debut on the platform, with one critic saying, “Martin Scorsese joining Letterboxd is a free education in cinema. Please follow him and learn from what he’s teaching.”
“Martin Scorsese is on Letterboxd. We won,” another user added.
“The best part of Scorsese making a Letterboxd (or just listening to him talk classic film in general) is discovering a wealth of gems nobody really talks anymore, reminding you there’s so much rich, rewarding cinema outside the limited view of ‘the canon,'” a culture writer for Next Best Picture noted.