Martin Scorsese turned down the chance to direct the film in the 1980s, as he felt he couldn't do as good a job as a Jewish director. He agreed to hand the project to Steven Spielberg, who was working on Cape Fear (1991), which Scorsese took over(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3083170&forum_id=2Reputation#29485371)