Martin Scorsese reveals his greatest scene and how difficult it was to film

It was 'choreographed like a ballet'

(Martin Scorsese/Facebook)

Martin Scorsese has revealed which scene is his favourite from his entire oeuvre, which spans Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Aviator, Shutter Island and many more classic films.

The auteur is most proud of the one-shot scene at the Copacabana in Goodfellas, he revealed in the new book Martin Scorsese In 10 Scenes, an excerpt from which was published by Shortlist this week.

It saw him navigate the camera from the street, down through the kitchen of the club and into its restaurant all without any cuts, and was, he says, “choreographed like a ballet”.

"The camera had to hit the table at the right time and at the right speed,” he explained, “and then we followed the table into this inner sanctum, the holy of holies, at which point we see them sit and we see all the people, all the denizens of that world."

"It turned out that the actor who played Mr Tony, the way he waved and he was on the edge of the frame, it made it quite funny I think.

"Then when she asked what he did for a living, he says he's in construction, and it all ended on Henny Youngman, the one-line comic, and it was all resting on his shoulders. He was terrific."

Made in 1990, Goodfellas is regarded as one of the finest mafia movies ever made and went on to influence other films and TV shows including The Sopranos - which even cast a few of its actors.