Martin Scorsese's unrealized projects

Scorsese said that in the early 1960s, while he was still trying to make his first feature, he had considered making a film of the gospel, but set on the Lower East Side in the tenements of contemporary Manhattan. The film was to have been shot in black-and-white with the Jesus crucifixion filmed on the West Side docks, but after Scorsese saw Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Gospel According to St. Matthew, he decided to abandon the project.[6]

Scorsese originally intended for Who's That Knocking at My Door and Mean Streets to be the second and third installments in a planned "spiritual trilogy" of films that dealt with themes of crime and Catholic guilt. The first, titled Jerusalem, Jerusalem, would have starred Harvey Keitel in the role of J.R. and was centered around a seminary retreat.[2][4]

Scorsese was originally hired to direct The Honeymoon Killers as his second film in 1969, when it was under the working title Dear Martha, but he was fired by the film's producer early into the shoot for working too slowly. Only a few scenes he directed remain in the finished film.[7][8] According to Scorsese, he attempted to craft a film in the vein of Carl Theodor Dreyer.[5] "Instead of just making the film, I was trying to make a reputation. And I twisted and turned it in different ways stylistically. I tried to make it something it shouldn't have been," he conceded, "I was fired from that after one week, and rightly so."[9]

In 1969, Scorsese and screenwriter Jay Cocks approached author Philip K. Dick about adapting his dystopian sci-fi novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? to film. Though the two never got around to optioning the rights, Dick's novel was eventually made as the film Blade Runner, in 1982.[10]

Scorsese almost directed Al Pacino in 1973's Serpico.[11]

Francis Ford Coppola first met with Scorsese about directing The Godfather sequel, impressed with his talent and not wanting to do it himself at the time. Despite campaigning to have Scorsese hired, the executives at Paramount Pictures refused to have someone other than Coppola.[12][13][14] Scorsese later admitted that he would not have been the right choice to direct the film anyways: "I would've made something interesting, but his [Coppola's] maturity was already there. I still had this kind of edgy thing, the wild kid running around."[15]

Scorsese had read the script for, and sought to direct The Yakuza, though he was not the person that screenwriter Paul Schrader had wanted. Instead, Sydney Pollack was chosen.[16]

Scorsese was considering adapting several Fyodor Dostoevsky novels, in particularly Notes from Underground before he was offered Taxi Driver by Paul Schrader. Since the story and themes in Taxi Driver were heavily influenced by Notes from Underground, he didn't feel the need to repeat himself by making a similar film.[2]

After the release of Taxi Driver, Scorsese was approached by actor Marlon Brando with the proposition of directing a film dramatization of the novel Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, about the infamous Lakota Indian massacre.[17] The adaptation never materialized.[5]

Scorsese nearly directed a film of Anne Edwards' novel Haunted Summer, about the creation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and the summer she spent with poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron. He ultimately opted to do New York, New York instead.[18][5]

In the late 1970s, Scorsese and Robert De Niro wanted to make a feature film out of a short story called "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities" by Delmore Schwartz, and had worked on a script briefly before switching gears to Raging Bull. Later, Scorsese toyed with the notion of adapting the story for his short film segment of New York Stories.[19]

After Raging Bull, in the early 1980s, Scorsese considered quitting filmmaking; wanting to travel to Rome to shoot a series of television documentaries on the lives of different saints. "I literally thought it [Raging Bull] would be my last film," Scorsese said in 2016. "And at the time, because of the films that [Bernardo] Bertolucci and the Tavianis and others had made for RAI, and in particular Roberto Rossellini's historical films, I thought that television was the future of cinema. Or, I should say: television mixed with cinema," he explained. He intended to set the project up at RAI, and explore the various questions of what it meant to be saint, and where the figures came from.[20] The project never came together however, though Scorsese would later tackle similar themes of religion with The Last Temptation of Christ, Kundun and Silence.[5]

A separate remake of Scarface was pursued by Scorsese and Robert De Niro, who had urged Al Pacino to suggest a director to producer Martin Bregman, otherwise De Niro would take on the lead role himself in the Scorsese version. Pacino eventually settled on Brian De Palma.[21][22]

In 1983, producer David Geffen was initially going to team with Steven Spielberg and Scorsese for the film adaptation of the off-Broadway musical Little Shop of Horrors, to be shot in 3-D.[23] With Scorsese at the helm and Spielberg as an executive producer, plans for this version ultimately fell through[24] when a lawsuit was filed by the original film's screenwriter and actor, Charles B. Griffith.

Scorsese admitted he turned down the offer to direct Beverly Hills Cop.[25]

Scorsese also turned down the offer to direct Witness.[26]

In 1984, Paul Schrader wrote a screenplay for a George Gershwin biopic for Scorsese to direct. In August 1993, it was reported that Scorsese was to direct a Gershwin film, with Robert De Niro and Richard Dreyfuss attached to star and the screenplay written by John Guare.[27]

After development of Gershwin fell through, Scorsese and Paul Schrader began pursuing concepts for a potential remake of the 1952 film The Bad and the Beautiful, with Robert De Niro starring in the Kirk Douglas role. "It would be about our three lives: writer, director and actor," Schrader said, "So I did an outline and met them both [Scorsese and De Niro] and it turned out to be very acrimonious." Schrader ultimately opted not to move forward as writer on the project following a screenwriting credit dispute with Scorsese.[28]

Though Dustin Hoffman was hesitant to star in the role, he had suggested Scorsese to direct an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel LaBrava for producer Walter Mirisch. At the end of 1985, when Hoffman finally committed to the role of ex-Secret Service agent Joe LaBrava, the film landed at the independent Cannon Films, after being rejected by Fox, Disney and Geffen. Despite securing funding, Scorsese balked at the prospect of making a film for a company he didn't know and decided to bail. For his part, Hoffman later said that Mirisch had set up the Cannon deal without his knowledge. LaBrava was eventually scrapped, after failure to find an available replacement director.[29]

In the late 1970s, actor Al Pacino commissioned Richard Price to write a screenplay based on Modigliani: A Play in Three Acts, about the tragic life of 20th-century painter Amedeo Modigliani.[11] Pacino showed the script to various directors, with the intention being for Pacino to star as the painter. In the late 1980s, Scorsese read the screenplay and loved it,[11] and agreed to direct, telling Empire magazine in 2019: "It was about the extraordinary struggle to create art. The sadness of it, the absinthe [...] It really would have been something special, I think."[30] Pacino and Scorsese shopped the project around studios, but faced constant rejection.[11][31]

Scorsese was one of the directors who turned down the offer to direct Steve Shagan's adaptation of The Sicilian. The film would eventually be rewritten and directed by Michael Cimino.[32]

Scorsese was approached to direct Dick Tracy before Warren Beatty wound up directing the film.[33]

In 1988, Steven Spielberg offered Scorsese the opportunity to direct Schindler's List, believing that he wasn't mature enough as a filmmaker to tackle the story.[34] Scorsese developed it with screenwriter Steven Zaillian, but felt that Spielberg would be better to tell the story, as he was Jewish.[15] Spielberg similarly wanted to work on the film again, so he arranged for Scorsese to direct Cape Fear, which he had been developing, while Spielberg would return to Schindler's List.[35][36]

In 1989, musician Robbie Robertson and Scorsese announced they were planning a sequel of sorts to The Last Waltz called Robbie Robertson and Friends. The project was initially going to be televised concert in collaboration with Peter Gabriel and U2, who were both unavailable at the time. Instead, Robertson expanded it into a theatrical film, explaining that it would be "a combination of The Red Shoes and All That Jazz, only dealing with music instead of dance."[5]

Around 1990, following the critical and commercial success of Goodfellas, Scorsese pursued a film epic about Theodora's relationship with emperor Justinian I, and the founding of the Byzantine Empire.[5] Novelist Gore Vidal was set up at Universal Pictures to write the script for Theodora, but the project never materialized. "Marty says that seven years is about right to get a picture made nowadays," said Vidal in 1994. "We're waiting on new technology, to show battle scenes without Ben-Hur prices."[37]

Sometime in the early 1990s, Scorsese attempted to make a film based on the Lou Reed song "Dirty Blvd.", from his 1989 album New York. Playwright Reinaldo Povod wrote the screenplay, and had died shortly after its completion.[19]

In 1992, Scorsese acquired the film adaptation rights to Nick Tosches's biography about Dean Martin titled Dino.[38] Scorsese had Tom Hanks in mind to portray Martin.[39] The screenplay was written by Nicholas Pileggi.[40][41] In 2004, Scorsese confirmed that he gave up on the project.[42][43]

In May 1993, it was reported that Scorsese would potentially direct the American remake of the 1963 Akira Kurosawa film High and Low for Universal Pictures, with David Mamet and Richard Price writing the script.[44] Later, in 2008, it was reported that Mike Nichols was to direct Mamet's script, with Scorsese serving as executive producer.[45][46]

The film version of Richard Price's novel Clockers originally entered production with Scorsese attached to direct, having previously collaborated with author Price on his 1986 film The Color of Money. Scorsese eventually dropped out of production to focus on his passion project Casino, at which point Spike Lee stepped in to direct and rewrite the script. Scorsese remained a co-producer alongside Lee.[47]

Robert De Niro had apparently wanted Scorsese to direct Analyze This but he turned it down: "We already did it. It was Goodfellas," he told De Niro.[15]

Leonardo DiCaprio was attached to a biopic of Alexander the Great, with Scorsese to direct a screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie and Peter Buchman. DiCaprio later joined Baz Luhrmann's rival production based on Alexander,[48] though this version never came to fruition either. Ultimately, Oliver Stone's Alexander, starring Colin Farrell, was released in 2004.

In 2002, Warner Bros. attempted to sign Scorsese to direct an adaptation of Winter's Tale initially, but he turned down the job, calling Mark Helprin's novel "unfilmable."[5]

In April 2003, DreamWorks Pictures optioned Thomas Eidson's Western epic St. Agnes' Stand for Scorsese to direct. Set in the 1860s, the novel follows a nun and a group of children who are rescued from a savage group of Apache Indians. Charles Randolph would have written the script.[49][2]

Author Dan Simmons revealed at the University Book Store in 2003 that he had sold the movie rights to his Hyperion novel series to a major studio, claiming that Scorsese was interested in directing, with Leonardo DiCaprio as one of the main characters.[50]

Throughout the 2000s Scorsese developed a biopic of Frank Sinatra, originally to star John Travolta and later to star Leonardo DiCaprio. The project fell apart when an agreement could not be reached with the Sinatra estate.[51] Phil Alden Robinson was set to script, though Billy Ray was later attached.[52]

In January 2005, Robert De Niro spoke of a possible sequel to Taxi Driver, featuring an older Travis Bickle, and that the project was being discussed between him and Scorsese.[53] In November 2013, De Niro revealed that original writer Paul Schrader had written a first draft, but that both he and Scorsese thought it was not good enough to proceed.[54]

In the mid-2000s, after reading the novel The Winter of Frankie Machine by Don Winslow, Robert De Niro expressed interest in starring in a film adaptation. Scorsese considered taking on the project at one point, with Paramount Pictures CEO Brad Grey ready to green-light the film.[55] Brian Koppelman and David Levien were set to script the project. However, Scorsese and De Niro decided they wanted to adapt I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt, a book De Niro came across while preparing for his role, into a film instead (which would later become The Irishman).[56]

Star Mark Wahlberg offered Scorsese the script for The Fighter, who turned it down, finding the film's Massachusetts setting redundant after having finished The Departed.[57] Wahlberg later cited Scorsese's own Raging Bull as an influence for The Fighter, which would be directed by David O. Russell.

In 2008, The Boston Herald claimed that Scorsese had met with John Martorano, and had gotten Graham King to secure the rights to his life story, with William Monahan writing a script.[58]

According to Paul Schrader, around 2009, he and Scorsese developed a crime series at HBO called Tokyo Underworld, set in post-war Tokyo.[59]

In August 2011, Scorsese had been set up to direct Leonardo DiCaprio in The Gambler, a remake of the 1974 film, itself loosely adapted from the short novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky. William Monahan, who had written Scorsese's The Departed and also starred DiCaprio, was set to write the adaptation for Paramount Pictures.[60] Scorsese and DiCaprio both left the project the following year, though Monahan's draft remained in the finished product.

In November 2011, Scorsese was set to direct The Snowman, with a script by Matthew Michael Carnahan. He later dropped out of the project.[61]

In 2012, Scorsese announced he was making a documentary on ex-U.S. president Bill Clinton. The film was partially shot, but was shelved at the beginning of 2015 when Clinton was said to have asked for too much creative control over how he was portrayed. Scorsese has said the film could still be made someday.[62]

In a 2014 essay for Vice, actor James Franco addressed that Scorsese had tried in vain, and failed to adapt the Cormac McCarthy novel Blood Meridian into a feature film.[63]

On August 25, 2014, Scorsese was set to direct a television pilot for the series Ashecliffe, from a script by Dennis Lehane. It would have been a spinoff of Shutter Island taking place on the eponymous prison.[64]

On August 28, 2014, Scorsese announced he'd direct a biopic about the punk rock band the Ramones.[65]

In November 2014, Scorsese was reported to be directing a television series for HBO based on the life of Hernán Cortés, which would have been written by Chris Gerolmo, and executive produced by Scorsese, Gerolmo, and Benicio del Toro, who was interested in starring.[66]

On March 13, 2015, Jamie Foxx announced that Scorsese would direct him in a Mike Tyson biopic, with a script by Terence Winter.[67] Scorsese's version was still being worked on as of 2017,[68] but was later redeveloped into a miniseries for Antoine Fuqua to direct.[69]

On March 20, 2015, actor/director Kenneth Branagh told Kermode and Mayo's Film Review that his acclaimed 2013 stage production of Shakespeare's Macbeth was in the process of being made into a Scorsese-directed film version.[70] The following month, in May, it was reported that Scorsese hoped to film a documentary about Branagh's production by reuniting the original cast and filming performances over the course of a few weeks in Leavesden.[71][72]

In August 2015, Scorsese signed on to direct an adaptation of The Devil in the White City, with Billy Ray to write the script and Leonardo DiCaprio set to star as H. H. Holmes.[73] It was later redeveloped as a miniseries for the streamer Hulu, starring Keanu Reeves, to be executive produced by Scorsese and DiCaprio, written by Sam Shaw, and directed by Todd Field. As of 2023, it was no longer being developed at Hulu, and was being shopped to other streamers.[74]

In 2016, Scorsese was reported to be in talks to direct a biopic of George Washington, from a script by Bill Collage and Adam Cooper.[75]

In early 2017, Lorene Scafaria's screenplay for Hustlers and a sizzle reel were sent to Scorsese and Adam McKay with interest of directing. Both passed and Scarfaria eventually directed the film herself.[76]

In September 2017, the biopic Roosevelt was set up at Paramount Pictures with Scorsese directing, and Leonardo DiCaprio starring in the role of U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt. Scott Bloom was to have written the script for the drama.[77][78]

Scorsese was the initial director of the Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro, which was set up at Paramount Pictures. He stepped down to work on The Irishman, allowing Bradley Cooper to join the film in May 2018 as director and to star as Bernstein. Scorsese produced the film alongside Steven Spielberg.[79]

In 2021, Scorsese was set to direct a biopic feature about rock band the Grateful Dead for Apple Studios featuring Jonah Hill as Jerry Garcia.[80] Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski were reported to be collaborating on the script for the biopic with Rick Yorn.

In July 2022, it was announced Scorsese would direct an adaptation of David Grann's non-fiction novel The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder for Apple Studios, reteaming once again with Leonardo DiCaprio.[81]

In October 2022, a potential TV series based on Scorsese's film Gangs of New York was reported to be in the works from Mirimax Television, with Scorsese involved to executive produce and direct the first two episodes. The series would have been a new take on the story, featuring different characters than those that appeared in the 2002 film.[82]

In May 2023, after meeting with Pope Francis, Scorsese said he was inspired to write and direct a new film about Jesus.[83] Later that year, in September, Scorsese reconfirmed his intention to make the film, elaborating that it would feature staged scenes and not follow a straight narrative structure. He also said that he himself would appear in the film.[84]

In September 2023, Scorsese made it known that he had several more film projects he wanted to make, among them an adaptation of Marilynne Robinson's Home.[84] He first began working on the script with filmmaker Todd Field, and later Kent Jones, prior to the 2023 WGA strike.[85]

In the early 1990s, Scorsese was going to collaborate with Federico Fellini on a potential a documentary about film production. The project was set up at Universal, with Scorsese set to executive produce, however it was never made following Fellini's death in 1993. "He had a series of scripts on how a production is made," Scorsese recalled of their project in 2018. "One, you have the production itself. Then you have the actor, then you have the cinematographer. He was going to make a Fellini film on each one."[86][87]

In 1995, it was reported that Scorsese would produce an American remake written and directed by Bo Goldman of Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries, with Gregory Peck starring.[88]

Scorsese was going to produce a teaming of Leonardo DiCaprio and Shah Rukh Khan for a gangster film called Xtreme City, which was going to be directed by Paul Schrader. At the Berlin Film Festival in 2011, he and Schrader met with the two actors, though Khan was allegedly hesitant about starring in a Hollywood English-speaking film, so he declined.[89]

It was reported in the 2010s that Scorsese was to produce Joker with Leonardo DiCaprio playing the titular character.[90][91]