Martin Scorsese Calls Filming 'Hugo' in 3D 'An Enjoyable Headache'

Martin Scorsese gave a strong endorsement to 3D and predicted that more innovation is on the way at a Saturday afternoon screening of his new film Hugo, based on the novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick.

"Most people have stereoscopic vision so why belittle that element of our existence?" Scorsese said at a post-screening panel with key members of his below the line crew at the Regal 14 in downtown Los Angeles. "Why not use it? Everything moves along and there's no major catastrophe. We're basically headed for holograms. You have to think that way."

PHOTOS AND VIDEO: Martin Scorsese On Set 

Scorsese pointed out that certain technologies that are taken for granted today took years to perfect. For example, he said "there was a mindset against color because . . . people said it didn't look realistic enough."

Director Paul Thomas Anderson moderated the panel, which included editor Thelma Schoonmaker, production designer Dante Ferretti, composer Howard Shore, cinematographer Robert Richardson and effects man Rob Legato.

PHOTOS AND VIDEO: Martin Scorsese: Into the Past

Scorsese said 3D is "exciting but it demands respect. You really are back to square one. . . We just kept pushing it to see how far we could go. . . We would look at a shot and say, `What could we do to use the depth?' " He summed up the experience this way: "It really was an enjoyable headache."

Hugo, a Paramount release starring Ben Kingsley and Sacha Baron Cohen, opens Nov. 23.