Martin Scorsese recalls his last conversation with Federico Fellini in new documentary at Rome Film Festival: 'Thank you, see you soon' (Exclusive)

Martin Scorsese recalls his last conversation with Federico Fellini in "The Last Fellini," a new documentary about the Italian writer's final decade that premiered Saturday at the Rome Film Festival. The Last Fellini, produced by Atomic Cinemas and Italy's RAI, has been picked up by PiperPlay for international sales. Scorsese is […]

Watch two exclusive clips from "The Last Fellini" below, which PiperPlay has picked up for international sales.

Martin Scorsese recalls his last conversation with Federico Fellini in "The Last Fellini," a new documentary about the Italian writer's final decade that premiered Saturday at the Rome Film Festival.

The Last Fellini, produced by Atomic Cinemas and Italy's RAI, has been picked up by PiperPlay for international sales.

Scorsese is known to be a big Fellini fan and has cited "8½" as one of his favorite films of all time. His film foundation also contributed to the remake of Fellini's masterpiece, La Dolce Vita. Related stories Omar Sy on creative control of Netflix's 'Lupin' and why 'Black Duma' sparks political debate in France Lady Violet-centric 'Bridgerton' spin-off ordered by Netflix

Although much has been said about Fellini, the final chapter of his life remains largely unknown. The Last Fellini, directed by Gianluigi Attorre – and also featuring interviews with Roberto Benigni, composer Nicola Pivani, journalist Vincenzo Mullica, comic book artist Milo Manara and Fellini's inseparable secretary Fiammetta – profiles the iconic director's efforts to find him during the 1980s and his struggles. Support his projects

In The Last Fellini, he describes how he and Fellini almost collaborated on a "crazy" documentary series about various aspects of the film.

Scorsese recalls Fellini telling him, "We have one [part] on the producer, one on the actor, one on the cinematographer."

In a humorous twist, Fellini also told Scorsese that for a producer, the most important role is that of the location manager.

"I said, 'Yeah, and why?'" Scorsese recalled asking. "Because you're going to be located as you go," he said — it went in the script — "whether you search through Rome or Parma or wherever, the location manager has to know a place that's close to a good restaurant, so you can stop and have lunch." So this is the main point."

Scorsese laughs heartily while recounting this story in the documentary.

The plan was to make the first one-hour episode of Fellini's documentary series on the actor. Scorsese, who was under contract with Universal at the time, had guaranteed $1 million to finance it. But then Fellini fell ill and died in October 1993.

As the film's narrative shifts to 1993, the last year of his life, Fellini shows up receiving an honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in Los Angeles. The day after the ceremony, he had his last phone conversation with Scorsese, which he mentions in the clip below.

"So I pick up the phone, and this time his voice was very weak, and he just said, 'Thanks, Martin. Thank you, thank you. You know, I'll see you soon. Yeah, I hope so."

Scorsese then speculates on what Fellini was thanking him for, since they hadn't talked. It's directly about the fact that he found the funding.

"I'm not entirely sure, but his voice was very weak," Scorsese repeats.