When Martin Scorsese premieres his latest film, “Killers of the Flower Moon”, at the Cannes Film Festival on May 20, it will return Scorsese to a festival where he remains a key part of its fabled history.
Scorsese premiered his masterpiece of urban alienation, “Taxi Driver”, in Cannes in 1976. Its debut was one of the most fevered in Cannes history, drawing boos and some walkouts for the violence in Scorsese’s tale of the disillusioned New York cab driver Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro).
The playwright Tennessee Williams, then the jury president, condemned the film. “Films should not take a voluptuous pleasure in spilling blood and lingering on terrible cruelties as though one were at a Roman circus,” Williams said. READ MORE: Scorsese’s Long-Awaited ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’ To Premiere At Cannes In May Yet “Taxi Driver” nevertheless won Cannes’ top honour, the Palme d’Or.
Having heard of Williams’ disapproval, Scorsese and company had already flown home, with dashed hopes of any big award. “I got a call from (publicist) Marion Billings around five in the morning saying, ‘You’ve won the Palme d’Or,’” Scorsese later recalled to The Hollywood Reporter. “We thought we might get screenplay or best actor for De Niro, so it was very surprising.” “Taxi Driver” wasn’t Scorsese’s first time in Cannes.
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