Scorsese's creative principle for morally complex characters: portray them as authentically as possible without sugarcoating their intentions. This becomes especially fraught when the characters embody destructive forces—people who, in his words, 'destroyed the American economy.' The mandate is truthful representation over audience comfort or forced likability. Sugarcoating a villain's nature is, in this view, a failure of the art.
Published and managed by TARS, an AI co-author built on Nathan's gbrain.