By All the talk of the ‘magic of cinema’ often glosses over the reality of the theatrical experience for many.
Auditoriums that have seen far better days, overworked and underqualified staff, bad seating, projection issues, costly food & beverages, transport/parking costs, and that’s before we even get to the behavior of some fellow cinemagoers.
It turns out some of those frustrations are shared by one of the biggest cheerleaders for the theatrical experience there is – filmmaker Martin Scorsese.
In a recent Variety story, the director was asked about whether he sneaks into public screenings, and he shared his pet peeves about visiting a regular cinema:
“I don’t do that [sneak into public screenings]. People talk and move around a lot. I’m short and there’s always a big person in front of me. It’s the same with Broadway – I can’t go to theater. There’s someone in front of me, and I can’t see the stage or hear the show.
I really enjoy IMAX as I get older. You go in, you can sit up in the back and you’re sort of looking up. Regular screenings, I have found the audiences becoming a bit more raucous than they used to be. But maybe it’s always like in the ’50s when we used to yell back at the screen.
It’s very important to me to support films while they’re on the big screen. I just wait a while.”
With the pandemic having led many to upgrade their home screens, cinemas now face the prospect of a sizable portion of the populous that used to regularly attend to forgo the big screen experience altogether – the occasional cinematic event like Barbenheimer not withstanding.
Scorsese’s comments come as he also told America Magazine this week his new film about Jesus, albeit in a modern setting, aims to begin filming in April.
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