Martin Scorsese was “very scary” film professor at NYU, says former student Billy Crystal

Billy Crystal has recalled being taught by Martin Scorsese at New York University almost 60 years ago.

• READ MORE: Exclusive: new ‘Beatles ’64’ trailer shows the Fabs taking America: “Their music gets inside of you”

The actor and comedian, who’s now 76, discussed his experience of being taught by the iconic director on the December 15 episode of the podcast Today’s Sunday Sitdown With Willie Geist.

Crystal said: “I was in film school [at NYU], and Martin Scorsese was my film production professor. He was a graduate student at the time, just doing his first movie, called Who’s That Knocking At My Door. And it was 1968, 1969, 1970.”

He continued: “[He] had a big beard and granny glasses and hair down to his shoulders. He looked like everybody. He’d stand behind you while you were editing your film and he would be very scary, because he would look and he was so intense and he would speak very quickly – even then – he spoke quicker then because he was, you know, 50 years younger.

“And he’d go, ‘Why’d you shoot it that way? Use a wide shot! Howard Hawks always used a wide shot.’ I said, ‘I’m 19 — I don’t know who Howard Hawks is!’”

Crystal went on to say that, despite his time at college being almost six decades ago, Scorsese still feels the same, with “the same energy” when he sees the 82-year-old.

Elsewhere in the interview, Crystal spoke about living in New York City’s West Village at the height of the counterculture. He said: “This neighbourhood was wild. It was a terrible time for America, but a great time at the same time. Cause all of that adversity and all of the protesting against the Vietnam War. It brought us together … What came out of it was a renaissance in music, in poetry, in art — that we’re still feeling today.

“Suddenly there were voices. There was Joan Baez, there was [Bob] Dylan, there was the Grateful Dead. All of that world was like right here.”

As for Scorsese, the octogenarian is still active in film and recently produced a new Beatles documentary, Beatles ‘64, which came to Disney+ last month. And he’s also the host, narrator, and executive producer of the docuseries Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints, which began airing on Fox Nation on November 17. Each episode focuses on a singular saint, with the saints he explores including Joan of Arc, John the Baptist, and Mary Magdalene.