The Tribeca film festival will restore and screen Martin Scorsese's groundbreaking movie 'The King of Comedy' on April 27 as its closing film, 30 years after its release in 1983.
The film is most noted for its groundbreaking commentary on the reality TV culture and the fine line between fame and notoriety.
Written by Paul D Zimmerman and starring Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, Diahnne Abbott and Sandra Bernhard 'The King of Comedy' revolves around stand-up comedian Rupert Pupkin (De Niro) who kidnaps talk show host Jerry Langford (Lewis) in an attempt to be allowed to perform his routine on Langford's show.
"Robert De Niro and I were both drawn to Paul Zimmerman's script for 'The King of Comedy', which really captured the show business atmosphere and the desperate attachments that some of the people on the other side of the screen could form, the ones that in certain cases turned dangerous," Scorsese said in a statement.
The film is being restored digitally 4K from Sony Colorworks' original camera negatives, while John Polito at Audio Mechanics is digitally restoring the soundtrack. The Film Foundation, Regency Enterprises and 20th Century Fox teamed up to restore the film.
"The fact that it's been restored (after so many years) is even all the better, and I can't wait to see it on our closing night," said De Niro, who is also the festival co-founder.
Tribeca festival runs from April 17 to 27.
