Why Martin Scorsese wanted to be a priest?

Celebrated filmmaker Martin Scorsese has shared a surprising chapter from his teenage years when he once wanted to become a priest, before life took a different turn.

In Rebecca Miller's new Apple TV+ docuseries Mr Scorsese, which premiered at the New York Film Festival, the director opened up about his early years in a religious environment and his brief time studying for the priesthood.

Scorsese recalled that he was deeply moved when he attended Catholic Mass at St Patrick's Cathedral in New York City at the age of seven. The experience left such an impression that he later joined a preparatory seminary to study religion.

"There was a preparatory seminary, and that was on 85th Street somewhere. I did okay for the first few months, but something happened," Scorsese shares in the new series. "I began to realise the world was changing. It was early rock and roll and the old world was dying out. I became aware of life around me. Falling in love or being attracted to girls; not that you're acting out on it, but there were these feelings, and I suddenly realised it's much more complicated than this. You can't shut yourself off."

The Killers of the Flower Moon director added that while the priesthood was about serving others, he eventually realised that it wasn't his true calling.

"The idea of priesthood, to devote yourself to others, really, that's what it's about," he added in the documentary. "I realised I didn't belong there. And I tried to stay but they got my father in there and they told him, 'Get him out of here.' Because I behaved badly."

Mr Scorsese, a five-part documentary, offers an intimate look at the legendary director's life and career. It includes interviews with Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Daniel Day-Lewis, Mick Jagger, Steven Spielberg, Sharon Stone, Jodie Foster, Margot Robbie, and others who have worked with him over the years.

The series will begin streaming on Apple TV+ on October 17.