Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro on How ‘Raging Bull’ Avoided Being Shut Down

From “Mean Streets” to their upcoming “The Irishman,” Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese have one of film’s most famous (and long-running) actor/director partnerships.The two talked about their decades of work together at the Tribeca Film Festival (which De Niro co-founded) on Sunday afternoon, touching on the dynamics of their partnership, Scorsese’s hesitance to take on certain projects and even another frequent collaborator: Leonardo DiCaprio, who happened to be in the audience for the chat at the Beacon Theater.See highlights from the two’s wide-ranging talk below.‘Raging Bull’ Almost Didn’t HappenScorsese was hesitant about and “overwhelmed” by “Raging Bull,” their 1980 boxing biopic, from the start.

The director explained that he didn’t “understand boxing,” and had to realize that it was really about the athlete himself, Jake Lamotta (played by De Niro), rather than the sport.

But that wasn’t the only

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