Martin Scorsese Once Shared That No One Would Come Near Him After ‘The King of Comedy’ Flopped

Movie director Martin Scorsese is well known as one of Hollywood’s most successful filmmakers with several hit films under his belt.

But after making a film that he considered a studio movie, the director asserted that many wrote him off after it flopped.

Martin Scorsese directed the 1982 film ‘The King of Comedy’

Martin Scorsese introduced the world to The King of Comedy in 1982. As many know, it was a black comedy that followed the dreams of aspiring and failed comedian Rupert Pukin played by Robert De Niro. The movie also featured late talk show host and comedian Jerry Lewis. Lewis is forced to try and help Rupert achieve his lifelong dream of being on television after being threatened by Rupert.

The Wolf of Wall Street filmmaker originally read the script for Comedy back in the mid to late 1970s. But it took him until the 1980s to decide to do the project due to his initial feelings regarding the script.

“I read it, but I didn’t quite get it. As we got further into the work, I understood it. I discovered it as we went along.” Scorsese once told Filmmaker.

Scorsese also believed that Comedy was special in that it came out right when the world was gravitating toward a new type of film.

“It was coming at the end of the period of filmmaking in L.A. that sort of ended,” he continued. “Raging Bull [was released] ten days before Heavens Gate, the studio went down, and that kind of filmmaking went out. This film was one of the last vestiges of that type of picture. It just snuck in under the radar. The whole world had changed.”

Martin Scorsese experienced a setback when ‘The King of Comedy’ flopped

Although it’s heavily revered now as a classic, when it first came out the movie was considered a flop by industry standards. According to Box Office Mojo, it took in a mere $2.5 million overall at the box office. Because of its performance, it negatively affected Scorsese’s standing in the industry. So much so that he had difficulty getting other projects made afterward.

“The last studio movie I made in Hollywood, The King of Comedy, was considered ‘the flop of the year.’ No-one would come near me. I tried to get Last Temptation made. That was cancelled. So it’s time to go home,” he once said in an interview with Tom Shone.

The Goodfellas director would continue to hone his craft after leaving Hollywood, making films if only to see if he could be a good director.

“I came back to New York and made independent films. I was like a wounded person trying to get back in shape. I tried a few pictures to see if I could just be a pro. I don’t mean that as false modesty. A pro is a very important, professional person. They can be depended on. They can work,” Scorsese said.

Why Martin Scorsese believed ‘The King of Comedy’ didn’t do well

The Oscar-winner theorized that the film’s lack of financial success had to do with the era it was set in. He asserted that he was experimenting with a different kind of film than what he was typically known for. Unfortunately for the film, the audience at the time might not have been ready for the change.

“By the time we made that film and the risk that that took, the combination of De Niro/Scorsese, this was not a film that was dealing with the worlds of Raging Bull or Taxi Driver or Mean Streets. It was totally different. You put that out in 1983, look at the other films that were there at that time. We were out of step and we’re out of time. We’re in the wrong time,” Scorsese confided to Deadline in a 2020 interview.

He reminded that the film received favorable reviews from major publications. But despite most critics agreeing Comedy was worth seeing, it did little to convince the general audience.

“The New York Times gave it a very good review. Time Magazine, Newsweek, there was even something pretty good in the LA Times I recall. But it didn’t help at all. Also, the studio head had changed at Fox and the film was not bringing people into the theater. And it closed in about a week-and-a-half, maybe two weeks. That was it,” he added.

Scorsese admitted that after King of Comedy, his confidence was all but gone until he rebounded a few films later.