Follow us on Google News
Get the latest updates directly in your Google News feed
Nowhere is Martin Scorsese’s love-hate relationship with New York more apparent than his films. The renowned director, who grew up in the city, has never shied away from using its scenery as a backdrop for his critically praised body of work. Each endeavor paints a different picture of the influential and ever-evolving American metropolis across shades of good, bad, and grey.
Read more:Sylvester Stallone Almost Ruined Martin Scorsese’s Career With 1 Franchise!
The helmer once illuminated the frightening aspects of the most seedy areas of the city, being acquainted with such minutiae. One of these corners, Hell’s Kitchen, has also been featured in an uber-popular Marvel property—Daredevil.
In the middle of the 20th century, the notorious neighborhood had a reputation for being a gritty and dangerous location. During a talk with his collaborator Timothée Chalamet, who was born there, Scorsese shed light on the terrifying sights he had witnessed, particularly at the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
Martin Scorsese On The Neighborhood That Inspired Marvel’s Daredevil
The acclaimed director conversed withTimothée Chalametfor aGQvideo. The duo, who collaborated on the Bleu de Chanel fragrance campaign, are both New York-born. As one would expect, the topic of the city was merely unavoidable. As the two discussed the backdrop to Scorsese’sTaxi DriverandMean Streets, Chalamet commented on the New York of the time, stating,“That was a different New York.”
When asked if the city, at the time, bore violent undercurrents,Martin Scorseseremarked,“For me, violence here is always the same. I grew up here. I’m always walking in the street a certain way.” The Wonka alum responded,“Yeah, you’re always checking your shoulder.”
The director affirmed that he’d learned to adapt to these dangers as he grew up in a“rough area” downtown in the Lower East Side neighborhood near the Bowery.“It was pretty scary growing up as a kid,”emphasizedScorsese.
Read more:One Clint Eastwood Film Made Martin Scorsese Turn Down Eddie Murphy’s ‘Beverly Hills Cop’
Sharing his experience, Chalamet revealed he grew up in Hell’s Kitchen. He shared that the neighborhood, once deemed dangerous in the past for its high crime rates, poverty, and gang violence, has changed considerably. Following was his statement:
“Well, I grew up in Hell’s Kitchen, and Hell’s Kitchen’s changed a lot from when I was growing up. Because when I was growing up, it was still a bit on the edge in the Port Authority Bus Terminal. The Port Authority has kept its edge by nature.”
Martin Scorsese agreed with the 27-year-old’s statement, affirming the dangerous sights he had seen while using the seemingly infamous bus terminal. He stated:
“… the Port Authority … I used to use that a lot. I was living in New Jersey in the mid-sixties. It was very cheap to live in Union City or Jersey City. And coming in and out of that Port Authority bus terminal… What I saw in there in the ’60s, my God, it was horrifying!”
Hell’s Kitchen and its edges live among various stories, some rooted in the real world and some found in fiction. Among these, Marvel’s Daredevil is a comic book/series property that heavily centers around the neighborhood.
Hell’s Kitchen Is Daredevil’s Playing Field
Read more:Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas Might Have Never Happened!
Hell’s Kitchen was the crime-ridden region that the comic-book series Daredevil portrayed when it was published in the 1970s and 1980s. In the Netflix series, the location is noted for its rough and declining state. Matt Murdock resides there and is commonly known as the defender of Hell’s Kitchen. The area proves the backdrop to many of the masked vigilante’s fights, including the one in the comics against Kingpin in the location that frightened even Martin Scorsese.
In1992’s Daredevil Vol. 1 #300,The Man Without Fear fights with his adversary at the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
The setting of Netflix’sDaredevilis a modern-day Hell’s Kitchen, where crime has been a by-product of the devastation caused by its destruction from the Chitauri Invasion or “The Incident.”
Nevertheless, some notions of its stature in the late 1970s and early 1980s permeate the backdrop.
WithDaredevil: Born Again(nearly) on the horizon, it’d be intriguing to see what other crimes and adversaries the masked vigilante encounters in the fictionalized Hell’s Kitchen.Charlie Coxand Vincent D’Onofrio’s spectacular MCU comeback as Daredevil and Kingpin suggest an exciting premise to look forward to.
Debdipta Bhattacharya
Articles Published :659
Debdipta Bhattacharya is a content writer at FandomWire, where she has written more than 500 articles on various topics of interest. She possesses a sincere passion for popular culture, anime, film production, and the evolving world of YouTube and streaming culture which has allowed her to be a devoted and well-informed writer. Debdipta holds a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication. She has honed her skills and expertise in content writing with over two years of experience and strives to learn and grow daily.
