Why Martin Scorsese thought his masterpiece would be his final major film project
In short: Martin Scorsese initially rejected the script for Raging Bull, claiming he had no interest in boxing. After a near-fatal drug overdose, he finally connected with the story, viewing the ring as a brutal allegory for the creative struggle of filmmaking. He expected the result to be his Hollywood swan song.
The film’s production was defined by an obsessive commitment to authenticity. Robert De Niro, who initiated the project after reading Jake LaMotta’s memoir, spent months training as a middleweight boxer. To capture the protagonist's later years, the production shut down for nearly four months, allowing De Niro to travel through Italy and France to gain roughly 70 pounds. This transformation was so extreme that filming was scheduled around Christmas 1979 to avoid compromising the actor's health, breathing, and speech.
Scorsese’s stylistic choices were equally deliberate. He opted for black and white film stock to evoke a specific period aesthetic and avoid the fading issues common to color film at the time. To place the audience directly into the violence, he insisted on placing cameras inside the ring, treating the boxing matches like choreographed dance routines rather than traditional spectator sports. The sound design was a grueling six-month process, as every punch and flashbulb required a unique, balanced mix.
Despite its eventual status as one of the greatest films in history, the 1980 release was a commercial disappointment. It earned roughly $23.4 million against an $18 million budget, and its violent content polarized early critics. Scorsese feared the lukewarm reception would end his career, yet the film eventually secured two Academy Awards, including Best Editing for Thelma Schoonmaker. In 1990, it became the first film selected for the National Film Registry in its inaugural year of eligibility.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Raging Bull
- Also: Art Institute of Chicago — The Bull · CC0 (data); description CC BY 4.0
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