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Isabella Rossellini reflects on her marriage to Martin Scorsese in Apple TV’s new documentary about the Oscar-winning filmmaker.
In the third episode of Rebecca Miller’s wide-ranging five-part documentary series, Mr. Scorsese, the 73-year-old Rossellini recalls that during their three-year marriage, which lasted from 1979 to 1982, Mr. Scorsese “often got mad at me.”
“Not against me,” Rossellini clarified. “He never hit me or anything like that, but he was able to destroy the room. His friend filmed him and showed it to him. Marty was shocked, because he didn’t realize how much violence this little asthmatic body could produce. It was like a volcano. It was scary.”
Scorsese and Rossellini’s marriage lasted during the production of two of Scorsese’s films, 1980’s Raging Bull and 1982’s The King of Comedy. Both films starred Scorsese’s frequent collaborator Robert De Niro. As Rossellini, 82, and director Scorsese recall in the documentary, the director went through a period of depression while making the latter film.
“I don’t even remember why he got so angry. I think sometimes very stupid little reasons might make him go too far,” Rossellini added. “Sometimes he wakes up like, ‘Oh, that, that,’ and I’m like, ‘Marty, the day hasn’t started yet.’ And I realized that, in part, this anger was part of the fuel that gave him courage, because, you know, he’s a little boy from Little Italy. But now he’s a big director who has to direct this big movie and this big budget. And I think that anger gave him the stamina to get through that day and finish the movie, because it’s not easy. So it was complicated to be with him.”
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This is Scorsese’s third marriage to Rossellini. He has been married five times and has been married to Helen Morris since 1999. They have a daughter, Francesca (25). He is survived by his first wife, Laraine Marie Brennan, and daughter Cathy, 59, and journalist Julia Cameron, and daughter Domenica, 49. Throughout the documentary series, Scorsese’s eldest daughters reflect on growing up with a father who wasn’t always physically available, as Scorsese began his film career in the 1970s and 1980s.
Scorsese and Rossellini divorced in 1982. Rossellini was then married to model-turned-Microsoft executive John Wiedemann from 1983 to 1986. The actress is also the mother of Roberto Rossellini (43).
Scorsese said the film’s subject told documentary maker Miller, 63, that he was “suffering from personal problems so severe that he couldn’t edit” The King of Comedy, which nearly cost him the film.
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When asked if he was depressed at the time, he replied, “Yeah, yeah.” “I’ve never experienced depression like this. I try to work, I can’t, I have problems, I complain, I go crazy. I try to meet other people, I try to start relationships, but I never work.”
“I would have died if it wasn’t for the doctors on the phone five days a week, on weekends, and the strong, steady efforts to keep my head on straight,” he added. “I was on very strong medication, so I was just getting through it. I was very lonely, but that’s what I did.”
Mr. Scorsese is currently streaming on Apple TV.
