Martin Scorsese on Miraculous Moments that Deepened His Faith, Fatherhood — and Not ‘Going Too Far’ on TikTok (Exclusive)

The Oscar winner executive produces and narrates the Fox Nation docudrama 'Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints,' a new faith-based anthology

When Martin Scorsese was a kid growing up in New York City, his asthma stopped him from enjoying typical childhood activities. “I was not allowed to play sports or run in the streets or laugh too much because it created spasmodic coughing,” he recalls.

Scorsese, 81, found “respite” in two places: the cinema and the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral in downtown New York — just a few miles away from where he recently sat down for an interview with PEOPLE in a Park Avenue hotel on a crisp November afternoon in Manhattan.

At the theater, the future Academy Award-winning filmmaker developed a love for movies. And at church, the young Catholic boy developed a fascination for saints, statues of whom loomed large in person and in his mind.

The saints — who lived holy lives and are believed to have performed miracles — “cast a spell over me,” says Scorsese. “Who are these people? And why are they elevated, so to speak, to something special, sainthood?”

Decades later, the Killers of the Flower Moon director explores the lives of several of these historical figures in the Fox Nation docudrama Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints, premiering on Sunday, Nov. 17.

Executive producer Scorsese narrates the eight episodes, each of which spotlights one saint, including Joan of Arc, the 15th century soldier who prayed over the dead on the battlefield during the Hundred Years' War, and Maximilian Kolbe, a monk who offered to die in place of another concentration camp prisoner at Auschwitz during World War II.

(Four episodes stream on Sundays this fall, beginning on Nov. 17; four more debut in 2025.)

It’s not the first time Scorsese imagined bringing these stories to life on screen: He had the idea for a saints series decades ago after wrapping on 1980’s Raging Bull.

Related: Martin Scorsese's Life in Photos

By then, he was a father to two girls — Cathy, now 58 (with ex Laraine Marie Brennan) and 48-year-old Domenica (with ex Julia Cameron) — and had pulled through a near-fatal battle with addiction that left him hospitalized in 1978.

He counts having children and surviving his 30s as the two most miraculous things that have happened to him.

“I stayed alive,” says Scorsese, who also notes that fatherhood “deepened my faith. There’s no doubt.” (He is also dad to Francesca, 24, with his wife, Helen Morris.)

Though the idea for the saints series was at the forefront of his mind at the time, he opted to make more movies instead.

But references to saints and the spiritual world have been consistent throughout his work. In his 1973 movie Mean Streets, about Catholic New Yorker Charlie (Harvey Keitel), who works for the mob, Charlie mentions St. Francis of Assisi, a 13th-century war veteran who lived a life of poverty.

Another character shoots back: “What are you talkin' about? St. Francis didn't run numbers.”

And Raging Bull, the story of professional boxer Jake LaMotta starring Robert De Niro, “is steeped in a kind of spiritual questioning about who we are as human beings, what the human condition is,” Scorsese notes.

Of course, he also made the controversial 1987 movie The Last Temptation of Christ, which imagines what would have happened to Jesus Christ, played by Willem Dafoe, had he lived.

With The Saints, Scorsese finally gets to do a deep dive on some of his other favorite religious figures, including the aforementioned Francis of Assisi.

“He was the one who really lived the teachings of Jesus and gave us the best example,” says Scorsese. “Now, it doesn't necessarily mean we want to give up everything and go and beg at people's doors, but the overall compassion and love, having gone through war — by the way, [that] certainly changed his perception.”

Will Scorsese, who has become a TikTok star in recent years thanks to daughter Francesca's viral videos, promote The Saints on the platform with her?

"I don't know. I'm going to ask her," he says, lighting up at talk of making the clips with Francesca. "I really enjoy it."

At first, he says, he had no idea what was happening when she recruited him for her videos. “I didn't know about TikTok,” he says. “She said, ‘Dad, just do this for a minute.’ I did it, and then next thing I know, it's all over the world.”

Related: Francesca Scorsese on Making TikToks with 'Big Kid' Martin Scorsese — and Which Trend He Won't Do (Exclusive)

Since then, he has joined her for clips in which she quizzes him on slang terms like “slept on” and “ick.”

The elder Scorsese has also narrated Francesca’s makeup tutorial to hilarious effect.

Does he ever say no to her concepts? “There were a few. I can't think of them right now, but [I’ll say,] ‘I think it's going too far, honey.’ But you know, she's a good actor and she's got a great sense of humor. And there's a good rapport and I play off that.”

Amen to that.

Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints premieres on Fox Nation on Sunday, Nov. 17.