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Steven Spielberg<\/a>,\u00a0Robert De Niro<\/a>,\u00a0Daniel Day-Lewis<\/a>, Spike Lee<\/a>, Leonardo DiCaprio<\/a>,\u00a0Sharon Stone<\/a>,\u00a0Jodie Foster<\/a>, and\u00a0Mick Jagger<\/a> all appear in Apple TV<\/a>\u2018s\u00a0Mr. Scorsese <\/em><\/a>documentary series, which explores the legendary director Martin Scorsese<\/a>\u2018s life and work<\/span>. But you won\u2019t see Joe Pesci<\/a> in the docuseries. There\u2019s a personal reason for his absence.<\/p>\n The five-part series debuted on Apple TV on October 17. Its director, Rebecca Miller<\/a>, couldn\u2019t snag an interview with Pesci for the series, despite his long working relationship with Scorsese that won the actor an Oscar for his performance in\u00a0Goodfellas<\/em><\/a>. Miller told Variety<\/a> that Pesci was \u201cthe only person who said \u2018no’\u201d to an interview for\u00a0Mr. Scorsese<\/em>. \u201cHe really didn\u2019t want to be interviewed for this.\u201d<\/p>\n Scorsese reveals in the documentary that Pesci was so good at playing gangsters and killers in films such as\u00a0Goodfellas<\/em>,\u00a0Raging Bull<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0The Irishman<\/em><\/a>, and more because he had personal experience with those types of people while growing up in Newark, New Jersey.<\/p>\n \u201cMarty explains it a little bit in the documentary,\u201d Miller said. \u201cHe talks about how Joe just doesn\u2019t want to talk about the experiences that made him so perfect for this kind of role.\u201d<\/p>\n One of Pesci\u2019s most famous scenes in a Scorsese film comes from\u00a0Goodfellas<\/em>, when his character, Tommy DeVito, yells at Henry Hill (Ray Liotta<\/a>) for calling him funny. This was an improvised moment that was apparently inspired by something Pesci witnessed when he was younger.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe was marked far worse than Marty was by those people,\u201d Miller explained. \u201cI don\u2019t think he wants to go over all that.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Scorsese<\/em> is an unflinching look at Scorsese\u2019s life, including his hard times. \u201cHe just decided in his heart to be frank,\u201d Miller said of the filmmaker\u2019s candidness in the docuseries.<\/p>\n Miller told TV Insider that \u201cone of Martin Scorsese\u2018s strengths is his willingness to recognize the conflicting emotional currents in himself.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAcknowledging his own dark side enables him to empathize with his characters,\u201d Miller added. \u201cWe who watch these imperfect characters treated with compassion by the filmmaker can perhaps begin to have mercy on ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n Get a deeper dive into\u00a0Mr. Scorsese<\/em> with Miller here<\/a>.<\/p>\n