Martin Scorsese on "Hugo": A very personal film

With Oscar Night exactly four weeks away . . . we're GOING HOLLYWOOD for these next few Sundays. We begin this morning with director Martin Scorsese, nominated for "Hugo," a picture unlike any he's done before. How his movie came to be is the story he tells Lesley Stahl of "60 Minutes":

Welcome to Hollywood East: Martin Scorsese's Manhattan office, where he edits his films, and screens old favorites. It's decorated with posters of works by such directors as Jacques Tourneur.

It's a wall-to-wall shrine to the greats of the past

"Yeah, I think for me it's, like, just trying to stay in touch with that initial creative impulse and say, 'Oh I want to do that. I want to do something like that,' the inspiration."

One inspiration, and the subject of "Hugo," is the pioneering film-maker George Melies.

"Melies actually was a magician," said Scorsese. "And so he understood the possibilities of the motion picture camera."

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Oscars 2012: "Hugo"

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"Hugo," "The Artist" lead this year's Oscar race

"Hugo" is a tribute to Melies. In the film, Scorsese shows us just how the old magician worked his tricks. Melies, who directed more than 500 films between 1896 and 1913, was the inventor of special effects.

"He invented everything, basically, he invented it all," Scorsese said. "And when you see these colored images moving, the way he composed these frames and what he did with the action, it's like looking at illuminated manuscripts moving."

But by the end of World War I, Melies was a forgotten man - reduced to selling wind-up toys in a Paris train station.

Asa Butterfield in "Hugo."

(Credit: Paramount Pictures)

The central character of "Hugo" is an orphan who lives in a Paris train station that he rarely leaves, viewing the world from behind a giant clock.

"This is what got me really interested in making the film: the way he's looking through the clock," Scorsese said.

In the film it is "Hugo" who rediscovers Melies and his films. In other words, it's a heartwarming children's movie with a happy ending.

"No stabbings, no shootings, no gunfire, no one gets whacked - is Martin Scorsese going soft on us?" asked Stahl.

"Have I mellowed, in a sense?" laughed Scorsese. "From 'Shutter Island'? The story for me was something that opened up a whole new way of approaching cinema. But primarily, it really is a connection with the children."

A sweet connection with children? Are we talking about Martin Scorsese?

Asa Butterfield and Chloe Moretz, two young actors who star in "Hugo," rattled off the list of Scorsese films their parents wouldn't let them see: "Raging Bull," "Mean Streets," "The Departed," "Taxi Driver," "Goodfellas," "Casino" . . .

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The films of Martin Scorsese

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At the Golden Globes where he accepted the critics group's Best Director Award for "Hugo," Scorsese explained why he made the film:

"I have to thank my love to my wife Helen, because we have a 12-year-old daughter Francesca, [and] she said to me, 'Why don't you make a film our daughter can see for once?' So we did!"

She was born when he was in his late fifties: "You know, it really is life-changing. I didn't quite understand. It's rediscovering the world through the kids."

This is such a different man from the one we first met in 1996 for a "60 Minutes" profile, when Stahl remarked to him, "Everybody says, 'You want to know Marty Scorsese, go see his movies, then you'll get him.' And your movies are so much about anger!"

"Yeah. Always, always," he replied. "I've been in a bad mood twenty five years!"

Back then he took us to his old New York City neighborhood, where he'd grown up a lonely and sickly child.

As a young boy he was so ill with asthma he spent a lot of time indoors at the movie theater. He couldn't go outside and rough-house with the other kids. He could only watch them from his window.

In "Hugo," the boy hidden in the train station also views the world looking through a window. Stahl suggested he'd made a movie about himself.

"That, I think, was the first connection," he said. "I loved the idea of a young person who's unable to join in, 'cause of me with my asthma and that sort of thing. But I was able to - that third floor front window was sort of like a panoramic image of life" to me.

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[oneamazedhuman]

Hugo should have won the Best Picture Award this year. It was original, creative, imaginative...everything The Artist, simply a rehash of an old silent film, was not. Hugo was far and away the very best movie made this year. It was magicl!

[Acer60bb]

I thought this was a wonderful interview and piece on Martin S. I especially loved the fact that he made the film so his daughter could go see it. I also wished I were able to sit in on a Sat. screening with his daughter and friends. I imagine his selections of movies would make for interesting history of movies. I'd love to see a list of films which he considered required viewing. Thank you , Martin for your continued excellent work.

[miwhastrum]

I am Stephen, Miwha's husband, commenting on Hugo, a movie that I would unhesitatingly say is the most beautiful, touching, meaningful, graphically magnificent production I have seen in the 69 years of life on earth. This is quality film, something that you could share with anyone, of any age, and leave the theatre with your face, your heart and your soul smiling. Ironically, Hugo is competing with the movie "The Artist", but the real artist here is Martin Scorsese and his crew and cast of actors. Thank you "Professor Scorsese" for bringing to the 21st century a cinematic creation that is Shakespearean in its complexity, its multiple layers of meaning and its memorializing the life of a forgotten genius. Hugo is in so many ways a play within a play within still another play, and so is Scorsese's tribute to Melies a tribute to his very own artistry.
Stephen Strum
Ashland, OR

[jgnv]

I must confess that I was clueless about the movie "Hugo" until I watched Leslie Stahl's inverview this morning. I was fascinated to learn about this remarkable person, Georges Melies, who, clearly, was a genius in his own right. It took me back to the 1950s when I can still remember watching "Captain Kangaroo" every morning with my little brother before we left for school. Bob Ketchum must have had an affinity for these intricate mechanical toys as he featured them regularly. It's so amazing to contemplate that this technology was created in the 1900s and still available for viewing today. I would love the opportunity to visit the museum in New Jersey and actually see these timeless creations in person. Thank you Mr. Scorsese for always opening up our minds and constantly transforming our conscienceness.