So, for Scorsese to take some time away from directing movies to work on a TV show, it must be a pretty special TV show. He guest-starred as himself in a few episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm, where he directed Larry David in a tough-guy mobster role, and he teamed up with Mick Jagger to chronicle the rock ‘n’ roll scene of 1970s New York in the stunning but short-lived Vinyl.
In 2010, former Sopranos writer Terence Winter created an HBO crime show of his own. Where The Sopranos was a contemporary tale about the New Jersey mafia, Boardwalk Empire was a period piece about a corrupt Atlantic City treasurer’s political machinations during the Prohibition era. Scorsese shepherded the project to the screen, and even directed the pilot episode.
Boardwalk Empire Is One Of HBO’s Greatest Crime Dramas
Boardwalk Empire stars Steve Buscemi as Enoch “Nucky” Thompson (based on the real-life historical figure Enoch L. Johnson). As the crooked treasurer of Atlantic County, Nucky is the most powerful political figure in town, and he uses that power for evil. He works with various mob organizations around New York and Chicago, and he’s involved in bootlegging liquor throughout Atlantic City.
Thanks to Scorsese’s stellar directorial work on the pilot, Boardwalk Empire is one of the most cinematic, visually striking TV shows ever made. Scorsese established a sharp, distinctive visual style in the pilot episode that all the subsequent episode directors would set out to emulate. It eschewed the standard rules of TV coverage for a more film-like look.
Although Scorsese would only ever direct the first episode, and never came back to direct more, he continued to have creative input throughout Boardwalk Empire’s run. He would review the cuts of the episodes, and he approved a lot of the casting decisions. In fact, some of Boardwalk Empire’s actors would go on to become frequent collaborators of Scorsese’s, like Bobby Cannavale.
Winter cut his teeth as a staff writer on The Sopranos, and he’s credited on some of the show’s best episodes. While working under David Chase on the saga of Tony Soprano, Winter developed a keen sense of story and character, and how to make an antihero compelling. Boardwalk Empire looks great, but what keeps you coming back is its ensemble of rich, three-dimensional characters.
Alongside The Sopranos and The Wire and Peaky Blinders, Boardwalk Empire is one of the greatest gangster shows ever made, but it doesn’t always get its due recognition alongside those shows. Its storylines are just as thrilling, its characters are just as captivating, and its vision is just as fully realized.
Boardwalk Empire Had A Stacked Cast
Buscemi is just the tip of the iceberg. Boardwalk Empire has one of the most stacked TV casts ever assembled, even by HBO’s standards. Michael Pitt plays Nucky’s protégé in the early seasons. Kelly Macdonald plays Nucky’s mistress, and later his wife. Michael Shannon plays an ex-Bureau of Prohibition agent who goes on the run, assumes a new identity, and becomes a bootlegger in Chicago.
The Wire’s Michael K. Williams plays a powerful Black gangster named Chalky White. Daredevil’s Charlie Cox plays an IRA volunteer working for Nucky. Adolescence’s Stephen Graham plays notorious real-life Chicago gangster Al Capone. Boardwalk Empire’s recurring cast is an embarrassment of riches: Ron Livingston, Jeffrey Wright, Michael Stuhlbarg, Shea Whigham — the list goes on.