Mardik Martin

Born: 1936-09-16

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.


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Raging Bull

as Copa Waiter
Released: 1980-11-14

The life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring...

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The King of Comedy

as Second Man at Bar
Released: 1982-12-18

Aspiring comic Rupert Pupkin attempts to achieve success in show business by stalking his idol,...

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Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood

as Self
Released: 2003-03-09

A look at 1970s Hollywood when it was known as New Hollywood, and the director was the star of...

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Movies Are My Life

as Self
Released: 1978-10-06

The very first full-length documentary on Scorsese offers an invaluable look at how he was...

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Martin Scorsese Directs

as Self
Released: 1990-06-16

Providing behind the scenes footage of the director on set with clips from his own films, Martin...

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Raging Bull: Before the Fight

as Self
Released: 2005-02-08

The first part of a four-part documentary about the production of "Raging Bull."

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Mardik: From Baghdad to Hollywood

as Self
Released: 2008-04-01

An intimate portrait of an oft-forgotten character in Hollywood: the screenwriter. Raised in...

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From the Classroom to the Streets: The Making of 'Who's That Knocking at My Door'

as uncredited
Released: 2004-08-17

A short documentary about the making of Martin Scorsese's debut feature.

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