Mardik Martin

Mardik Martin

Born: September 16, 1936
Died: September 11, 2019
in Iran
Mardik Martin (September 16, 1934 – September 11, 2019) was an American screenwriter of such classics as Mean Streets, New York, New York, and Raging Bull directed by his lifelong friend Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro. Mardik Martin is among the revered screenwriters on the Writers Guild of America's list of 101 Greatest Screenplays.

Martin Mardik was born into a family of Armenian genocide survivors that fled to Iran. They later moved to Iraq. Although his family in Iraq was wealthy, he fled the country to avoid the draft and arrived in New York City in a penniless state.

In Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, Peter Biskind’s 1998 book on the New Hollywood, the author writes that Martin had to wash dishes to pay his way through NYU, where he met fellow student Martin Scorsese in 1961. The two formed a close friendship and worked together on Scorsese's early projects such as It's Not Just You, Murray! and the semi-autobiographical Season of the Witch, which ultimately became Mean Streets. According to Biskind, "The two young men sat in Martin's Plymouth Valiant and wrote. In the winter, in the cold and snow." Martin also shared writing credits on the Scorsese films New York, New York (with Earl Mac Rauch) and Raging Bull (with Paul Schrader).

In 2014, Martin co-wrote the screenplay of the German drama The Cut, which won a special mention by the Young Jury Members of the Vittorio Veneto Film Festival for its director Fatih Akin at the 2014 Venice Film Festival.

Martin died of unknown causes on September 11, 2019. He was found dead in his house five days short of his 85th birthday.

Movies for Mardik Martin...

Mardik: From Baghdad to Hollywood
Title: Mardik: From Baghdad to Hollywood
Character: Self
Released: April 1, 2008
Type: Movie
An intimate portrait of an oft-forgotten character in Hollywood: the screenwriter. Raised in Baghdad, screenwriter Mardik Martin was infused with an early love for movies when he was sent to the U.S. by his family to avoid being drafted into the Iraqi army. Mardik discovered the NYU cinema department, and there he met Martin Scorsese; their friendship would lead to some of the greatest films in American cinema.
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Raging Bull: Before the Fight
Title: Raging Bull: Before the Fight
Character: Self
Released: February 8, 2005
Type: Movie
The first part of a four-part documentary about the production of "Raging Bull."
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From the Classroom to the Streets: The Making of 'Who's That Knocking at My Door'
Title: From the Classroom to the Streets: The Making of 'Who's That Knocking at My Door'
Released: August 17, 2004
Type: Movie
A short documentary about the making of Martin Scorsese's debut feature.
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Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood
Title: Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood
Character: Self
Released: March 9, 2003
Type: Movie
A look at 1970s Hollywood when it was known as New Hollywood, and the director was the star of the movie.
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Martin Scorsese Directs
Title: Martin Scorsese Directs
Character: Self
Released: June 16, 1990
Type: Movie
Providing behind the scenes footage of the director on set with clips from his own films, Martin Scorsese Directs depicts to riveting effect the way Scorsese brings the written story to life on the big screen. Additional interviews with the likes of Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel, Thelma Schoonmaker, the director’s own parents, and others build a perception of Scorsese that not everybody knows.
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The King of Comedy
Title: The King of Comedy
Character: Second Man at Bar
Released: December 18, 1982
Type: Movie
Aspiring comic Rupert Pupkin attempts to achieve success in show business by stalking his idol, a late night talk-show host who craves his own privacy.
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Raging Bull
Title: Raging Bull
Character: Copa Waiter
Released: November 14, 1980
Type: Movie
The life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.
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Movies Are My Life
Title: Movies Are My Life
Character: Self
Released: October 6, 1978
Type: Movie
The very first full-length documentary on Scorsese offers an invaluable look at how he was perceived by his colleagues, and himself, in 1977. Catching Scorsese while he was in post-production on New York, New York and editing The Last Waltz, British filmmaker Peter Hayden gets the manically hyper Scorsese to comment on his youth, his relation to his lead characters, and most importantly, his approach to direction. The doc doesn’t quite move at the pace of Scorsese’s revved-up speed-talking, but it does offer some real insight into his productivity in the 1970s, thanks to an impressive array of talking heads. Included are Scorsese’s collaborators Jay Cocks, Mardik Martin, Brian De Palma, Steven Prince (who co-produced this doc), and his mentor John Cassavetes. Also the performers, who discuss his working methods in detail — Jodie Foster, Liza Minnelli, and, of course, Robert De Niro.