What Happened to Scorsese’s $70-Million Short ‘The Audition’ Starring DiCaprio, De Niro and Pitt?

What happened to Martin Scorsese’s “The Audition,” the 15-minute short film slated to premiere on the Lido this year? The screening was canceled at the Venice Film Festival on September 7th due to “technical problems.” Now the short has finally debuted in Macau, where it was unveiled by its stars, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, and Martin Scorsese. (More details of the showing are at VanityFair.com.)

Doubling as a promotion for a set of new casinos in Asia, “The Audition” stars Scorsese as a director opposite his muses DiCaprio and De Niro as actors vying for a lead role. Brad Pitt also co-stars in the film penned by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Terence Winter, Scorsese’s collaborator on upcoming HBO 70s drama series “Vinyl.”

With a reported budget of $70 million, its Venice inclusion may have been problematic because the short was financed by casino-resorts Macau Studio City and Manila City of Dreams, though Venice director Alberto Barbera also told THR, “It’s a Scorsese film, not a commercial. The casino paid for the film, but it’s not in the film at all.”

Thus indeed Macau hosted the film for the opening of Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd.’s Hollywood-themed Studio City resort. At a press conference, the trio talked about working together. DiCaprio first co-starred with De Niro in his debut film, “This Boy’s Life” at age 15, and De Niro then turned Scorsese on to DiCaprio. Word is Scorsese steals the show. And producer Brett Ratner teased that he would like to see the short adapted into a feature.

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What Happened to Scorsese’s $70-Million Short ‘The Audition’ Starring DiCaprio, De Niro and Pitt?

What Happened to Scorsese's $70-Million Short 'The Audition' Starring DiCaprio, De Niro and Pitt?