The Audition (2015)
Seventy million dollars. For sixteen minutes. Let that sink in for a moment. The Audition, Martin Scorsese's 2015 short film, was reportedly bankrolled by Macau casino groups to that frankly staggering sum, and when you first hear that figure, your brain does a little somersault. But then the film starts, and you see exactly who's on screen, and you think, alright, fair enough. If you're going to spend an obscene amount of money on a short film, at least spend it like this.
The premise is gloriously simple and completely self-aware. Scorsese is pitching his next big project to a room of executives, while two of his most celebrated collaborators, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, are locked in a quietly desperate battle to land the lead role. I say quietly, but that's being generous. These two play exaggerated, ego-bruised versions of themselves, and watching them jockey for position, each trying to outshine the other in front of their director, is an absolute joy. The chemistry between them crackles. They're both brilliant at sending themselves up, and Scorsese orchestrates the whole thing with a wit and lightness of touch you might not expect from a man whose films include Raging Bull and Taxi Driver. He clearly has a sense of humour about the world he inhabits, and it shows.
Then the twist arrives, and it's both the funniest and most pointed moment in the whole piece. Just when you think the contest between Leo and Bob is about to be resolved, Brad Pitt wanders in and gets the part. Just like that. DiCaprio and De Niro are left completely in the dark, and the punchline lands with perfect comic timing. It's a sharp, knowing dig at Hollywood ego, at the fickle nature of the industry, and at the myth of the untouchable star. Nobody is safe from being upstaged, not even two of the greatest actors of their respective generations.
But here's the thing that genuinely struck me while watching it, beyond the laughs. Seeing DiCaprio and De Niro share the frame, even in this daft, self-referential context, threw into sharp relief just how rarely it's actually happened in proper feature-length work. These are two actors whose careers have been deeply intertwined with Scorsese's, and yet the chances to see them bounce off each other have been frustratingly scarce. The Audition, for all its brevity and silliness, exposes that gap. It's a tantalising glimpse of a pairing that should exist in a much bigger, grander form, and the fact that it doesn't feels like a genuine missed opportunity in modern filmmaking.
I'd be lying if I said this film doesn't have its limitations. It is, at its heart, a promotional piece, and you never quite forget that. The narrative stakes are non-existent, and the whole thing wraps up before it has time to develop any real depth. But Scorsese is smart enough to lean into the absurdity rather than fight it, and the cast are so clearly having a blast that the energy carries you through. There's something almost refreshing about watching three legends and their director being utterly unserious for sixteen minutes. After the grinding intensity of something like The Wolf of Wall Street, it's a lovely reminder that filmmaking can also just be, well, fun.
Three and a half stars.
Is The Audition essential viewing? Not exactly. But it's executed with enough wit and charm that you genuinely enjoy the ride, and it leaves you with something that lingers: a real, nagging desire to see these three properly share a screen in a feature that actually lets them go to work. Until someone makes that film, this clever, breezy little curio will have to do.
Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 2015 | Watched: 2026-07-30
