Martin Scorsese: What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy?

The question

What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

Asked in 52 of the 131 consecutive instalments of The Guardian's The Q&A harvested on 2026-08-29.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Martin Scorsese

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

When my friends and I were making Mean Streets, 1973.

Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, March 2010 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 577 →

Joanne Froggatt English actress

On my wedding day in Oxfordshire, six years ago.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 February 2019 source ↗

Burt Reynolds American actor

When I was under contract to Universal Pictures in 1959, just before I got my role on Riverboat.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 November 2015 source ↗

John Cleese

There are different kinds of happiness, but the simplest was when I was 13 because what one had to do was so obvious.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 October 2012 source ↗

Chris McCausland

My college years when I was 17 to 19, before the responsibilities of adulthood, just doing the things that I was good at and liked – computers, maths, further maths (I was a geek).

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 November 2025 source ↗

More from Martin Scorsese

View profile →

Question What trait do you most dislike in other people? Values & belief

Actually, I dislike dealing with schedules and logistics—mine and others’.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, March 2010 source ↗

Question Which trait in yourself do you like least? Identity & self

Laziness, wasting time. I’d like to be able to make films faster.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, March 2010 source ↗

Question What does happiness look like for you when life is going well? Identity & self

I think you can strive to attain it, but be realistic about the outcome. In the meantime, I find I might be experiencing it through flashes or brief moments in love and art, and at times just being alive.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 1 March 2010 source ↗

Question If you could alter one thing about yourself, what would it be? Identity & self

First of all, I’d like to stop complaining—I’m beginning to annoy myself. I would like to learn to read faster, however. Again, the rest I’ve learned to live with.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 22 February 2010 source ↗

Also answered this

Ann Patchett, Martin Freeman, Charlize Theron, Pete Postlethwaite, Aidan Gillen, Meg Rosoff

Search the directory for somebody in particular.

Explore further

All time & hindsight questions
The The Q&A questionnaire — 25 questions from the same format
Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject

Report this answer

Others on this question

More from Martin Scorsese

More on time & hindsight

Also answered this

Explore further