# In 1988, Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader planned a movie with Robert De Niro. They abandoned it to save their friendship

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/in-1988-martin-scorsese-and-paul-schrader-planned-a-movie-with-robert-de-niro-they-abandoned-it-to-save-their-friendship/
- Published: 2026-10-23T20:15:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-23T21:38:07+00:00
- Original publisher: Far Out
- Original article: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/in-1988-martin-scorsese-and-paul-schrader-planned-a-movie-with-robert-de-niro-they-abandoned-it-to-save-their-friendship/
- Topics: Art, Culture, Entertainment, Film, Music

## Key points

- Credit disputes ended plans for a 1988 film with De Niro.
- The project was to remake *The Bad and the Beautiful*.
- Scorsese and Schrader reunited for one final film in 1999.

## Summary

Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader abandoned plans for a 1988 film with Robert De Niro after disputes over who would receive writing credit threatened their friendship. Schrader later said he urged them to stop the project rather than make the film and become enemies.

The proposed film was a remake of the 1952 drama *The Bad and the Beautiful*. The disagreement followed earlier tensions over changes to Schrader’s scripts for *Raging Bull* and *The Last Temptation of Christ*, including a Writers’ Guild dispute over his credit. Scorsese and Schrader worked together again on *Bringing Out the Dead* in 1999, their final film together.

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