But within a few years, a string of big-budget, big-ego productions from similarly hot young auteurs like Francis Ford Coppola (''Apocalypse Now'') and Michael Cimino (''Heaven's Gate'') ran aground. Studios panicked. Checkbooks snapped shut. And mavericks like Scorsese saw their green lights turn red. ''It was the end of the power of the director,'' says Scorsese 25 years later. ''It was the end of making films that were big and provocative. There was just no way 'Gangs of New York' could get made after that.''
Scorsese is almost 60 now. And he's two weeks away from finishing postproduction on ''Gangs.'' With the help of Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Cameron Diaz, the movie it has taken him 25 years to make is almost done. But rather than triumph, his weary eyes bring to mind the old saying ''Be careful what you wish for?.'' After all, judging from the dire dispatches from the ''Gangs'' set in Rome last year -- the out-of-control budget, the script being tapped out as they went along, the clashes with his bristling financier, Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein -- making his dream film may have at times resembled a horrific nightmare. ''All I know is I did the best I could,'' Scorsese says, shrugging. ''If people are watching the movie 20 years from now? Who knows? I'll be dead.''
When Daniel Day-Lewis showed up on the ''Gangs'' set in Italy in September 2000, he was already Bill the Butcher. He spoke with Bill's broad New York accent and already carried around Bill's rage -- a mental state he would trigger each morning by blasting Eminem while he worked out. One other thing: Everyone had to call him Bill too. ''I just met Daniel recently,'' says Cameron Diaz, more than a year after ''Gangs'' wrapped. ''The whole time he was Bill. Never Daniel. Always Bill.'' Day-Lewis lowers his head and laughs when he hears this. Then I ask if he thinks his costars were intimidated by him. ''I suppose it's a little strange. You'd have to ask them.''
Diaz: ''Yes.''
DiCaprio: ''You just become used to it after a while. I've heard stories about Method actors...and at the end of the day when the director calls 'Cut,' they're still that character and they go home and beat the s--- out of their wives. But if I had something I wanted to collaborate on, I never felt like he was going to pull a butcher's knife on me.''
Cameron Diaz remembers being terrified as she left the set of ''Charlie's Angels'' to fly to New York for her ''Gangs of New York'' audition. She knew going in that the role of Jenny Everdeane -- the street-smart love interest of DiCaprio's Amsterdam -- was being read by virtually every important young actress, even the ones like her who'd graduated past reading for parts. ''I just didn't want to make a total ass out of myself,'' Diaz says. Plus, she says that she was just looking forward to gobbling up whatever morsels of direction Scorsese would toss her way: ''I didn't care if I got the job -- I got to read for Marty Scorsese.''
Scorsese remembers being impressed by Diaz in Oliver Stone's ''Any Given Sunday'' and the few bits of ''There's Something About Mary'' he caught on TV one night. But it's what she did for DiCaprio's performance that ultimately sold him. ''When she came in, something happened. He kind of brightened up,'' Scorsese says. ''There was some sort of chemistry between the two of them, and I thought then that she could do it -- the way she was affecting him.'' Then he begins to laugh. ''None of the dialogue they were reading wound up in the script.''
Leonardo DiCaprio had no idea what ''Gangs'' was about. He just knew he wanted to be in it. He remembers being in Thailand, preparing to shoot ''The Beach,'' when he first read the script. From the title, he assumed it might involve tommy guns and Westies in Hell's Kitchen. It didn't matter, really -- he already knew he was going to say yes. DiCaprio says that he actually changed agents when he was 17, mainly because the new ones promised that they could get him a meeting with Scorsese.
Today, with Scorsese sitting by his side, DiCaprio compares the physical hardships of making ''Titanic'' and ''Gangs'': Both were made under a tabloid microscope; both went over budget and had their release dates delayed; and both were pronounced DOA before anyone saw them. Then he breaks the news to Scorsese that ''Gangs''' shoot actually lasted longer than ''Titanic'''s. Scorsese turns red and sheepishly hangs his head. ''Really? My God! Sorry!''
It couldn't have been that bad. DiCaprio (whose con artist movie ''Catch Me if You Can,'' like ''Gangs,'' opens on Christmas Day) says that his next starring role will be in a Howard Hughes biopic called ''The Aviator''...to be directed by Martin Scorsese.
Talking about other filmmakers, Scorsese tosses the word genius around like confetti, but when it comes to his own films, you'd think he was talking about Ed Wood. He's quick to point out that his only major hit was his 1991 remake of ''Cape Fear'' (which grossed $79 million); he talks about how films like ''Last Temptation'' (which finally got made in 1988) were compromised. And when he wonders if there's a place for him in Hollywood today, you almost want to pat him on the back and tell him it's going to be okay.
''I feel like I'm sort of hanging on. I keep getting in there and throwing my punches. I'm not that interested in the average film that comes out of Hollywood. I might see it, but what can I learn? How to make a blockbuster? I don't know if I want to. I mean, it would be nice someday, maybe.''
He continues, ''It would be nice to be able to stay in touch with an audience. To think that you've become so antiquated in your thinking...or that you're dealing with issues that don't mean anything to anybody -- that might be a funny kind of bad feeling...'' He trails off and shrugs. ''But I don't think that's the case yet.''
Then he looks at his watch and realizes it's getting late. He's due back in the editing room. After all, it may be 25 years late in coming, but he has a movie to finish.
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