Martin Scorsese told Margot Robbie that every great movie has a staircase shot (and he’s right)

In a recent interview with BAFTA, Margot Robbie shared a piece of advice Martin Scorsese gave her on the set of The Wolf of Wall Street that’s pretty hard to rebut. “One thing actually, when we shot that shot, we were running down the stairs, and [Scorsese] was like “Ah” when we came up with it. He said, “That’s a great staircase,” and he just turned to me and said, “Every great movie has a shot of a staircase.” worked, jokingly emphasizing the importance of including stairs in their films.

While the inclusion of the stairs doesn’t immediately make the movie great, Scorsese’s simple remark turns out to be true the more you think about it. “Rocky” includes one of the most iconic stairwell scenes in cinema, and not only is it a great movie, it’s also one of the best sports dramas of all time. For older examples, look no further than “Psycho” and “Gone With the Wind,” both were considered the two greats of all time. The latter, in particular, uses the red staircase as a setting for numerous scenes. More modern examples of Scorsese’s commentary include “Joker” and “Parasite”.

Scorsese definitely got something when he said that every good movie has a staircase scene. The simple yet to the point statement just shows his incredible movie knowledge and we can’t help but wonder what other similar opinions he has.