Martin Scorsese remembers exact moment 'slept-on' classic “The King of Comedy” dubbed 'flop of the year'
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Martin Scorsese has made more seminal classics than almost any other living filmmaker — but some criticism of his work still sticks with him decades later.
In a video posted to his daughter Francesca's TikTok account, the acclaimed director revealed that he still remembers the precise moment that one of his collaborations with Robert De Niro was eviscerated on live television.
The director's daughter quizzed him on Gen-Z slang, and he attempted to guess the meaning of the phrase "slept on." Francesca used the phrase in an example sentence, saying, "The King of Comedy was slept on," which prompted the filmmaker to launch into a tangent about the movie's reception.
"People hated it when it came out," Scorsese said. "No, it was the flop of the year. That's what it was called on Entertainment Tonight, New Year's Eve '83-'84. It's okay, it's alright."
The 1983 film follows Rupert Pupkin (De Niro), a sociopathic aspiring comedian who kidnaps a talk show host so he can perform his set on television.
getty; courtesy everett collection Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro
Though the film is now widely beloved by critics and fans, it was a financial failure upon release, grossing just $2.5 million on a much larger budget.
Elsewhere in the video, Scorsese waxed poetic about the beauty of watching movies projected on film. Francesca attempted to get her dad to guess the meaning of the phrase "hits different" by using the example sentence "Watching a movie in 70 [millimeter film] hits different," and the filmmaker responded, "It's an easy one. You perceive it in a totally different way. Not totally different way, but you see it… it's another perspective on the image, so to speak, and the effect the film has on the audience."
Scorsese's film Killers of the Flower Moon, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, and De Niro, releases in theaters on Oct. 20.
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