Martin Scorsese’s Crew Reveals What He’s Really Like on Set

After Martin Scorsese admitted he and Robert De Niro occasionally roll their eyes at Leonardo DiCaprio’s acting style, the director’s longtime cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto has revealed what the legendary auteur’s crew thinks about him.

Sitting with Insider for an interview, Killers of the Flower Moon cinematographer Prieto admitted that Scorsese “can be a little cranky” on his sets, but is at no loss for energy. 

Flower Moon is the fourth collaboration between the two, after Wolf of Wall Street, Silence, and The Irishman. (Prieto also served as director of photography on Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.)

“Every morning, he is nervous,” Prieto said of Scorsese. “He gets to set and many times he’s not feeling well, and I think it’s psychological.”

The three-time Oscar nominee continued: “He can be a little cranky, he doesn’t like noise on set, but immediately once he starts working with the actors and the camera and he gets the first shot, he’s cured and his energy is really high.”

Prieto praised Scorsese’s “startling” vim and vigor for a person his age. He reported the director would stay on set until he got each shot absolutely correct, without ever showing signs of fatigue.

In an interview earlier this week with The New Yorker, Scorsese seemed to acknowledge the fact that he had more energy than his peers while discussing the process of making The Irishman. That film starred Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci.

“I was seventy-five. Bob was seventy-five, Al was seventy-seven, Joe, I don’t know what age he is. I mean, at a certain point, by the time we all get on set, they’re good for a certain amount of hours,” Scorsese admitted.

“And if you want to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to go down the block and shoot another scene, we’re going to move all the trucks,’ they need sleep,” said. “So we were kind of locked in there.”

Prieto told Insider he hopes to work with Scorsese on many more projects to come. He finds the filmmaker’s humble curiosity invigorating.

“We all are insecure but you would never expect someone of that level of talent would have that same anxiety,” Prieto said. “He’s the first to use these words you never hear from a director: ‘I don’t know.’ I love that. It’s disarming. And I think that translates into his power as a storyteller.”

Killers of the Flower Moon, starring Leonardo DiCaprio alongside De Niro, is currently in theaters.