FilmSkool — a free film school
The King of Comedy (1982)
Directed by Martin Scorsese.
Directed by Martin Scorsese · Shot by Fred Schuler · Cut by Thelma Schoonmaker · Music by Robbie Robertson · 109 min
How it was made
- Scorsese modelled the film's rawer visual style on early silent cinema, citing Edwin S. Porter's 1903 Life of an American Fireman as an influence, and favoured static shots over dramatic close-ups.
- Robert De Niro prepared for Rupert Pupkin by reversing the stalker dynamic himself, tracking down and interviewing one of his own real-life stalkers about his motives.
- Jerry Lewis proposed the scene in which Langford refuses to speak to an elderly fan's relative on the phone and is told “You should only get cancer!” — based on a real incident from his own life, with Lewis directing the actress's timing himself.
- Shooting began a month early, at producer Arnon Milchan's suggestion, to beat a looming Directors Guild of America strike, and ran twenty weeks with Scorsese filming a compressed 4pm-to-7pm schedule each day.
- Scorsese spent a fortnight reshooting a single scene to get it right, generating a large volume of footage that had to be edited down.
Behind the scenes
Elsewhere
More by Martin Scorsese
This is the plain index, shown because JavaScript is off. Every lesson here is a free video published by the channel credited on it and plays through that channel's own embed — FilmSkool hosts nothing.