"…dealing with Howard Hughes at this point in his life, his flaw, the curse so to speak, is the curse for all of us in terms of a nation, a country that acquires wealth like empires," Martin Scorsese told Film4 circa "The Aviator." "I love studying ancient history and seeing how empires rise and fall. They sow the seeds of their own destruction and I think that’s what fascinated me. Ultimately the story asks, is that the wave of the future for everyone?" And it would seem that’s been an area the director has been fascinated with since childhood.
As if you needed any more reason to be in awe of Scorsese, here he is at 11 years-old, making storyboards for a Roman epic titled "The Eternal City." For the imagined movie, the young Scorsese dreamcasted Marlon Brando, Richard Burton, Virginia Mayo and Alec Guinness, for what was described as “a fictitious story of royalty in Ancient Rome.” Of course, those dreams weren’t realized, and curiously, Scorsese has never made a Roman epic, but hey, there’s still time. Too bad he can’t get that original cast though, because we’d watch the hell out of that.
Check out the storyboards below. [Cinephilia and Beyond via Open Culture]
