Martin Scorsese on Miraculous Moments that Deepened His Faith, Fatherhood — and Not ‘Going Too Far’ on TikTok (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Martin Scorsese in Hollywood on March 10.Photo:Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty

Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty

WhenMartin Scorsesewas a kid growing up in New York City, his asthma stopped him from enjoying typical childhood activities. “I was not allowed to play sports or run in the streets or laugh too much because it created spasmodic coughing,” he recalls.

Scorsese, 81, found “respite” in two places: the cinema and the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral in downtown New York — just a few miles away from where he recently sat down for an interview with PEOPLE in a Park Avenue hotel on a crisp November afternoon in Manhattan.

At the theater, the future Academy Award-winning filmmaker developed a love for movies. And at church, the young Catholic boy developed a fascination for saints, statues of whom loomed large in person and in his mind.

The saints — who lived holy lives and are believed to have performed miracles — “cast a spell over me,” says Scorsese. “Who are these people? And why are they elevated, so to speak, to something special, sainthood?”

Decades later, theKillers of the Flower Moondirector explores the lives of several of these historical figures in the Fox Nation docudramaMartin Scorsese Presents: The Saints, premiering on Sunday, Nov. 17.

Liah O’Prey as Joan of Arc in ‘Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints.'.Courtesy of FOX Nation

Courtesy of FOX Nation

Executive producer Scorsese narrates the eight episodes, each of which spotlights one saint, including Joan of Arc, the 15th century soldier who prayed over the dead on the battlefield during the Hundred Years’ War, and Maximilian Kolbe, a monk who offered to die in place of another concentration camp prisoner at Auschwitz during World War II.

(Four episodes stream on Sundays this fall, beginning on Nov. 17; four more debut in 2025.)

It’s not the first time Scorsese imagined bringing these stories to life on screen: He had the idea for a saints series decades ago after wrapping on 1980’sRaging Bull.

By then, he was afatherto two girls — Cathy, now 58 (with ex Laraine Marie Brennan) and 48-year-old Domenica (with ex Julia Cameron) — and had pulled through a near-fatal battle with addiction that left him hospitalized in 1978.

He counts having children and surviving his 30s as the two most miraculous things that have happened to him.

“I stayed alive,” says Scorsese, who also notes that fatherhood “deepened my faith. There’s no doubt.” (He is also dad to Francesca, 24, with his wife, Helen Morris.)

Martin Scorsese with daughters Francesca, Cathy and Domenica in 2020.Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Though the idea for the saints series was at the forefront of his mind at the time, he opted to make more movies instead.

But references to saints and the spiritual world have been consistent throughout his work. In his 1973 movieMean Streets, about Catholic New Yorker Charlie (Harvey Keitel), who works for the mob, Charlie mentions St. Francis of Assisi, a 13th-century war veteran who lived a life of poverty.

Another character shoots back: “What are you talkin’ about? St. Francis didn’t run numbers.”

AndRaging Bull,the story of professional boxer Jake LaMotta starringRobert De Niro, “is steeped in a kind of spiritual questioning about who we are as human beings, what the human condition is,” Scorsese notes.

Willem Dafoe in ‘The Last Temptation of Christ.'.Everett

WithThe Saints, Scorsese finally gets to do a deep dive on some of his other favorite religious figures, including the aforementioned Francis of Assisi.

Will Scorsese, who hasbecome a TikTok star in recent yearsthanks to daughter Francesca’s viral videos, promoteThe Saintson the platform with her?

“I don’t know. I’m going to ask her,” he says, lighting up at talk of making the clips with Francesca. “I really enjoy it.”

At first, he says, he had no idea what was happening when she recruited him for her videos. “I didn’t know about TikTok,” he says. “She said, ‘Dad, just do this for a minute.’ I did it, and then next thing I know, it’s all over the world.”

Since then, he has joined her for clips in which she quizzes him on slang terms like “slept on” and “ick.”

The elder Scorsesehas also narrated Francesca’s makeup tutorialto hilarious effect.

Does he ever say no to her concepts? “There were a few. I can’t think of them right now, but [I’ll say,] ‘I think it’s going too far, honey.’ But you know, she’s a good actor and she’s got a great sense of humor. And there’s a good rapport and I play off that.”

Amen to that.

Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saintspremieres on Fox Nation on Sunday, Nov. 17.

source: people.com