Martin Scorsese shared a heartfelt tribute to his late friend and fellow legendary filmmaker Rob Reiner on Christmas Day.
Scorsese — in a piece for The New York Times — wrote that it fills him with “profound sadness” to use the past tense to discuss his pals Rob and Michele Reiner, who were stabbed to death earlier this month, allegedly by their son Nick Reiner.
“What happened to Rob and Michele is an obscenity, an abyss in lived reality. The only thing that will help me to accept it is the passing of time,” Scorsese wrote.
“So, like all of their loved ones and their friends — and these were people with many, many friends — I have to be allowed to imagine them alive and well …”
Scorsese reflected on his time first getting to know Rob Reiner in the early 1970s, noting that he “loved hanging out” with the actor and director right away.
“We had a natural affinity for each other. He was hilarious and sometimes bitingly funny, but he was never the kind of guy who would take over the room,” the “Goodfellas” director wrote. “He had a beautiful sense of uninhibited freedom, fully enjoying the life of the moment, and he had a great barreling laugh.”
FILE — Director Martin Scorsese (L), recipient of the Feature Film Nomination Plaque for “The Wolf of Wall Street,” and actor-director Rob Reiner pose together during the 66th Annual Directors Guild Of America Awards in 2014.
Frazer Harrison via Getty Images
Scorsese called Reiner’s “Misery” his favorite film from the director before adding that “This Is Spinal Tap,” Reiner’s directorial debut, was “in a class of its own.”
While casting for his 2013 film “The Wolf of Wall Street,” Scorsese wrote that Reiner “immediately” came to mind to play Max Belfort, the father of stockbroker Jordan Belfort (played by Leonardo DiCaprio).
“He could improvise with the best, he was a master at comedy, he worked beautifully with Leo and the rest of the guys, and he understood the human predicament of his character: The man loved his son, he was happy with his success, but he knew that he was destined for a fall,” Scorsese explained.
Reiner, in a 2013 interview with Salon, called Scorsese “one of the great filmmakers of all time” and stressed that when he calls to ask for you to be in a movie, “you just do what he says … don’t ask questions” and “just show up.”
He told a SAG-AFTRA panel that year that he had the “most fun” on the set of “The Wolf of Wall Street” and praised Scorsese for building a “great playground” to work in.
In his piece for the Times, Scorsese recalled a “wonderful moment” on the set when Reiner’s “loving father” character was “mystified by his son.”
Scorsese declared that he was “moved by the delicacy and openness” of Reiner’s performance throughout the filmmaking process.
“Now, it breaks my heart to even think of the tenderness of Rob’s performance in this and other scenes,” he wrote.
