HOLLYWOOD - Legendary film director Martin Scorsese, whose signature swirling, white-hot directorial style infuses his films with excitement in every frame, was stripped of his "best director" nomination and disqualified from contention in this year's Oscars' race after admitting that his films' most violent scenes are ghost-directed by the Three Stooges' long-time director Jules White. In a written statement, Scorsese apologized to his fans for taking credit for White's work. "I am ashamed to admit that my films' frequent detours for bursts of explosive, blood-splattered, pop-pop-pop brutality must, in fact, be attributed to the man who invented cinematic mayhem, Jules White." White spoke briefly with reporters but was in a prickly mood. In a freewheeling, no-holds barred interview, he noted that he is upset with Scorsese for excising an elaborate pie fight he ghost-directed for inclusion in Scorsese's The Departed. White also revealed that Scorsese cut a scene White filmed for Goodfellows where three bowling balls dropped on Joe Pesci's head, causing the NBC chimes to play as each one struck. White credited Robert DeNiro as "the only living actor worthy of Moe Howard's legacy of inflicting pain on his co-stars." He added that "DeNiro is almost as fine an actor as Moe was." White said the scene he is most proud of directing was in Taxi Driver where DeNiro accidentally sat on a bear trap and frantically ran around the room yelling, "Larry! Larry! An octopus has got me!"
