Martin Scorsese Sells Out—the Film Forum, At Least!

It'll be sitting room only for 180 lucky fans of GoodFellas (or, just maybe, Shutter Island) at the Film Forum next week, as the Manhattan auteur not named Woody Allen addresses the Film Forum audience at a Feb. 23 screening of last year's Fran Lebowitz documentary Public Speaking. Wait, everyone loves Martin Scorsese, but hadn't that already come and gone—in 2010—and on HBO, no less?

A Film Forum rep explained to the Observer: "When Rialto [Pictures] picked it up, they thought it had a wider audience beyond HBO—it's such a New York movie, and so perfect for the Film Forum audience and the New York audience." The film is to run for a limited engagement; Scorsese's Taxi Driver is to screen there March 18 through 31.

This may be the first time Scorsese's spoken at Film Forum, the rep told us, in about fifteen years—he presented Mean Streets there, ages before winning an Oscar—though he's active in film preservation. Margaret Bodde, executive director of Scorsese's Film Foundation, helped broker Scorsese's appearance, for which demand was clearly pent-up. "It was an instant sell-out," after an email blast to those well-heeled cineastes who opt in on the mailing lists. So, any room for the Observer to hear our favorite director talk about filming our favorite curmudgeon? "No."

ddaddario@observer.com :: @DPD_