Scorsese planning lower budget flicks

Martin Scorsese is ditching big-budget epic productions in favour of making cheaper, more personal films.

The Gangs of New York legend has just finished shooting Howard Hughes biopic Aviator and he's starting to crave the freedom a smaller budget allows.

The 61-year-old said: "I'm looking forward to making pictures that have a little smaller budget and taking different stories and going that way.

"If you are going to do something for $100m or $110m, it alters your subject matter and how you present the subject matter."