Martin Scorsese’s mum cut pizza with scissors and now we do too - How To

Jun 28, 2024

If it's good enough for De Niro, it's good enough for us.

He may have been directing the biggest stars in the world for decades but there’s no doubt that Martin Scorsese’s mum was the boss in the kitchen.

In a delightful recovered segment from Late Night with David Letterman, legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese and his mother Catherine stole the show while teaching Letterman how to make pizza. Mother Scorsese then imparted a pearl of wisdom in her approach to pizza cutting: using scissors to cut the pie.

This unconventional method, as explained by Catherine, not only ensures perfectly cut slices but also prevents scratching the pan, a clever hack she learned from her mother-in-law. “I use the scissors because my mother-in-law taught me to use the scissors. You always cut it better with the scissors. And you don’t scratch your pan!”

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Known for his masterful direction in films like Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, and Killers of the Flower Moon, Scorsese clearly inherited his eye for detail from his no-nonsense mother, who watched closely as Letterman went wild with the parmesan before shooing him away.

Scorsese Snr – who features in more than a dozen of her son’s films – regaled the Late Night host with tales of feeding actor Robert De Niro her pizza, which he claims is “the best pizza in the world.” What we wouldn’t give to be at that dinner table.

We’re not sure what Catherine puts into her pizza sauce but if we’re taking cues from Martin’s films – the garlic was sliced with a razor.