Mardik Martin

Mardik Martin (September 16, 1934 – September 11, 2019)[1][2] was an Armenian American screenwriter, known for Mean Streets, New York, New York and Raging Bull – all directed by his lifelong friend Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro. Mardik Martin is among the revered screenwriters on Writers Guild of America list of 101 Greatest Screenplays.[3][4]

Early life

Mardik Martin 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.

Career

Martin attended NYU, where he met fellow student Martin Scorsese in 1961.[5] 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 Hollywood biographer Peter Biskind, "The two young men sat in Martin's Plymouth Valiant and wrote. In the winter, in the cold and snow."[5] 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.[6]

Death

Martin died of unknown causes on September 11, 2019. He was found dead in his house five days before his 85th birthday.[7]

Awards

In 2012, Martin was honored by the Parajanov-Vartanov Institute "for the mastery of his pen on iconic American films" such as Mean Streets and Raging Bull.[4][8]

Filmography

Year Title Director Notes
1971 Revenge Is My Destiny Joseph Adler
1973 Mean Streets Martin Scorsese Written with Scorsese
1977 New York, New York Martin Scorsese Written with Earl Mac Rauch
1977 Valentino Ken Russell Written with Russell
1980 Raging Bull Martin Scorsese Written with Paul Schrader
2014 The Cut Fatih Akin Written with Akin

References

  1. ^ Mardik Martin - Biography, IMDb.
  2. ^ "Mardik Martin, 'Raging Bull' and 'Mean Streets' Screenwriter, Dies at 84". The Hollywood Reporter. 11 September 2019. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
  3. ^ WGA 101 Greatest Screenplays
  4. ^ a b Parajanov-Vartanov Institute
  5. ^ a b Biskind, Peter (1999). Easy riders, raging bulls: how the sex-drugs-and-rock-'n'-roll generation saved Hollywood (1. Touchstone ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-85708-4.
  6. ^ "The Cut - IMDb".
  7. ^ "Mardik Martin, 'Mean Streets' and 'Raging Bull' Co-Writer, Dies at 84". TheWrap. 2019-09-12. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
  8. ^ Hollywood Reporter

Further reading