Paramount Pictures’ chairman Brad Grey has persuaded Martin Scorsese to sign a four-year, first-look deal with the studio, under which the Departed director (the most likely winner of the Best Director Oscar next February, as things currently stand) “will direct and produce entertainment across all platforms including feature films, made-for-DVD, digital content and television for Paramount Pictures and Paramount Vantage,” according to the release.

Martin Scorsese (l.); Brad Grey (r.)

Is this the beginning of something new and dynamic for Marty? Or is this a gold-watch honorarium being given to an older guy who’s probably never going to ring-a-ding-ding it with as much dead-on clarity as he did with The Departed? I hate to say it, but lightning doesn’t strike that often in a creative person’s life and at Scorsese’s age — let’s face it — the odds are that it’ll be all downhill from here on. But maybe not.
As long as Marty doesn’t use the Paramount deal to make any more Kundun‘s, things’ll be okay. My own view is that Scorsese should stay out of Asia altogether. Remakes, fine. Historical terra firma, nein.