``New York, New York'' is a controversial film that almost ruined Scorsese's career.

Re-creating the golden age of Hollywood filmmaking

For Winkler, who had high praise for Scorsese's breakthrough film, `` Mean Streets '' (1973), it was a long journey. In fact, Winkler, who loved jazz, commissioned an unknown young writer, Earl Mac Roach, to write the script for ``New York, New York,'' and Winkler, who had worked on low-budget works, and co-producer Robert・It was also a big challenge for Chertoff. Then a young, up-and-coming genius director raised his hand and said he'd really like to work with him.

``New York, New York'' is not a musical in which the characters sing instead of dialogue, but it is a musical film that is full of songs and performances. The main characters are saxophonist Jimmy (Robert De Niro) and jazz singer Francine (Liza Minnelli). The two met in New York on August 15, 1945, celebrating the end of the Pacific War. They fell in love with each other and got married, but differences in musical preferences and career conflicts cast a shadow on their marriage. The fact that it's a melodrama about the difficulties of partnership between artists also felt right to Scorsese.

The first person cast was Liza Minnelli. She is the daughter of Vincente Minnelli, the master director who directed many of the MGM musicals that Scorsese sought to emulate, and Judy Garland, who was a huge star of MGM musicals. Liza said, ``I grew up on movie sets,'' so this project was like getting back to her roots.

“New York, New York” (c)Photofest / Getty Images

Since Liza was chosen to play the lead role, Kander & Ebb, the songwriting duo known for such classic musicals as ``Cabaret'' and ``Chicago,'' decided to write an original song. Boris Levin, who worked on `` West Side Story '' and `` The Sound of Music, '' has been appointed as art director. When cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs heard that Levin would be participating, he was excited, thinking, ``Are we going to work with God?''

Naturally, Scorsese wanted Robert De Niro to play Jimmy. After working together on ``Mean Streets'' and `` Taxi Driver ,'' the two became close friends who could communicate with each other. If Liza Minnelli was a descendant of the good old Hollywood, De Niro was the actor who represented the new era they were carving out. Scorsese and De Niro's styles of improvisation greatly inspired Liza Minnelli as an actress.

Scorsese has portrayed his hometown of New York realistically in films such as ``Mean Streets'' and ``Taxi Driver,'' but for ``New York, New York,'' he was particular about filming in far-flung Hollywood. Golden Age Hollywood movies were basically shot on sets inside film studios, and everything from interiors to cityscapes were fake. Scorsese intended ``New York, New York'' to be set in the period, in the style of musical films from 1945 to 1957.

The film begins with a crowd celebrating victory in Times Square. Scorsese wanted to shoot at MGM Studios, the same location as director Vincente Minnelli, and a huge Times Square set was built on the site of many musical films. Liza Minnelli was given the same waiting room used by her mother, Judy Garland. Hundreds of extras were brought in for the ensuing dance hall scene, portraying the joyous, boisterous and dancing crowd.

For Scorsese, it would have been a dream come true. Prior to this scene, the epic musical number ``Happy Endings'' was filmed over 10 days. It is a luxurious and fantastical sequence that condenses the stage and movie starring Francine, who became a star in the play, into 12 minutes. Scorsese was so pleased with the result that he made sure to show the scene to anyone in the industry who was interested in the film.

Everyone involved felt a positive response, but the shooting scene gradually turned into chaos. The opening scene in Times Square and the dance hall alone took up a huge amount of film, and when edited it was an hour long (it was eventually shortened to about 20 minutes). This scene is still early in the story, when Jimmy catches Francine's eye at a dance hall and picks her up in an attempt to lure her out.

Endless improvisation that brought chaos to the filming set