Martin Scorsese took a hilariously unfiltered trip down Tribeca’s memory lane. The legendary filmmaker recalled when the now-polished neighborhood had a much grittier reputation after dark.
Before Tribeca became a luxury-heavy downtown destination, Scorsese remembered trucks, empty streets and plenty of questionable activity. His colorful memories appeared in a documentary celebrating the neighborhood’s transformation and the film festival he helped shape.
Martin Scorsese discussed the neighborhood’s crime-filled past before its makeover in Tribeca 25
Scorsese opened up to longtime collaborator Robert De Niro in Tribeca 25. Entertainment Weekly debuted an exclusive clip from the upcoming documentary. “The space that I remember, particularly during the day, it was all trucking. Trucks everywhere,” Scorsese recalled. “Then at night it was dead, empty.”
That nighttime emptiness apparently created opportunities for some very dubious business. “It was really good for stealing hubcaps, or any kind of sex that you wanted, or, like, drugs,” he said.
Scorsese then joked that nobody could see what happened there. He also winked at his 1985 movie After Hours while remembering those days.
“So Tribeca, all of the sudden now, is like, the Elysian Fields,” Scorsese added as De Niro laughed. He then recalled knowing people who stole hubcaps and took cars from the area. “Not that I did. I’m just saying,” Scorsese quickly clarified.
The Martin Scorsese Tribeca memories added plenty of personality to Tribeca 25. The Matt Tyrnauer-directed documentary explored the festival’s 25-year history and its relationship with downtown New York.
De Niro and Scorsese had already built a legendary partnership across Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Casino and The Irishman. Their other collaborations included New York, New York, The King of Comedy, Cape Fear, Killers of the Flower Moon and more.
De Niro and producer Jane Rosenthal founded the Tribeca Film Festival after the September 11 attacks. De Niro explained that they wanted to bring people back downtown and believed movies could help.
Rosenthal similarly said the goal involved bringing artists downtown and finding a way forward. The festival eventually became a global institution while keeping that original mission. Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Whoopi Goldberg, Nas, Jon M. Chu and Julian Schnabel also appeared in the documentary.
Tribeca 25 will premiere on Netflix on September 11.
