Martin Scorsese’s Unmade Movies: 15 Films the Oscar Winner Almost Directed

Martin Scorsese is cinema’s giant among giants. In addition to directing some of the most beloved films of his generation, he is one of the most vital advocates for the preservation of his art form. From his work to preserve rare international films through his World Cinema Project to his public evangelizing for the continued study of old masters like Fellini and Kurosawa, the film industry is a richer place because of his efforts. 

Scorsese’s fight for artful cinema has not always found sympathetic audiences. He has often had to fight to finance his films and made enemies with his refusal to compromise his creative vision. It took a long time for his bold filmmaking to find anything resembling a consistent commercial audience, and in an era dominated by streaming he sometimes still struggles to find backers willing to accommodate his massive theatrical releases. 

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While film history will always love Scorsese, his commercial struggles resulted in a massive list of unmade projects. Every director has to deal with films that fall apart at the last minute, but Scorsese’s propensity to shun commercial opportunities in favor of more esoteric projects makes him more susceptible to that problem than most. His unrealized films reveal the themes that have fascinated Scorsese throughout his career. 

Scorsese is not a man who gives up easily: He has been known to continue developing projects for decades and films like “Silence” and “The Irishman” ultimately found financing after years of false starts. So while this list contains films that the Oscar-winning auteur didn’t make on his preferred timeline, that doesn’t mean never. Keep reading for our list of Martin Scorsese’s 15 most interesting unmade movies, updated ahead of the release of “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

With editorial contributions by Wilson Chapman.

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