History Trivia / GangsOfNewYork

* CareerResurrection: Creator/DanielDayLewis had virtually retired from acting until Scorsese convinced him to return for OneLastJob. His iconic performance as Bill the Butcher and his second collaboration with his favorite director[[note]]Lewis always cited ''Film/TaxiDriver'' as the film that inspired him to become an actor[[/note]] revived his passion for his craft, and Lewis went on to a second stretch of his career between this and ''Film/PhantomThread'' (which led to his second retirement) during which he won two more Best Actor oscars, establishing himself as the greatest film actor of his generation, and putting him in the pantheon with Creator/MarlonBrando and Creator/RobertDeNiro. This was also the case for Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio who starred in this film and ''Film/CatchMeIfYouCan'' which came out in 2002, and while he got better notices for the latter film, ''Gangs'' started his collaboration with Scorsese leading to future triumphs like ''Film/TheDeparted'' and ''Film/TheWolfOfWallStreet''.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Prevented the film from being released after 9-11, resulting in some very awkward cuts and disjointed segments. However, [[WordOfGod Scorsese himself]] said that the reports of conflict between him and Harvey Weinstein were highly exaggerated, and the various cuts were made out of a combination of concerns over production costs and running time. The fact that they collaborated again soon after with the very successful and similarly epic {{Biopic}} ''Film/TheAviator'' should be seen as proof that there was no bad blood between them. Scorsese's only pushback was refusing to edit out the World Trade Center, arguing that a movie about the people who built America shouldn't end with a reminder of the people who destroyed it.

--> "''Gangs of New York.'' The story of the Irish Immigrant experience, as told by an Italian, an Englishman and a Cuban." [[note]]Daniel Day-Lewis was born and grew up in London but if of Irish ancestry and has dual British and Irish citizenship.[[/note]]

* DoingItForTheArt:
** They actually built what was essentially a full scale complete replica of the Five Points in Italy just to film the movie. All of the costumes and props were painstakingly created to be historically accurate too. According to one of the extras on the DVD, Creator/GeorgeLucas visited the set and noted that these days most of it would be done on computers, praising him for more or less going old school. [[http://www.imagineersystems.com/case-studies/mocha-tracks-the-wolf-of-wall-street-rob-legato-brainstorm-digital/ Scorsese is not averse to digital technology in general]] but he wanted the specific analogue look typical of the old fashioned EpicMovie for this film.
** Noteworthy is how insanely in-character Day-lewis got for Bill the Butcher, right down to learning an extinct accent for the part. The guy even refused to take medicine when he got sick because flu medicine hadn't been invented at the time. But then again, its Daniel Day-Lewis. He ''ad-libbed'' tapping his eye with the knife. This trope should be renamed "Daniel Day-Lewis Is A Badass," for God's sake.

* MethodActing: Creator/DanielDayLewis stayed in character all the time, even keeping Bill's accent. One day, after the day's filming was finished, Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio and Creator/MartinScorsese talked him into going out to eat with them. He refused to break character, and the waitress was afraid to go near him.

* IronyAsSheIsCast: Bill the Butcher, a hyper-nationalistic American "nativist" who is pretty open about his hatred for both the Irish and the British, is played by Creator/DanielDayLewis, an English-born actor of Irish ancestry.

** Creator/PetePostlethwaite was sort after for a role but turned it down as he was offered reduced wages.