“Pretend It’s a City” Trailer: Martin Scorsese Presents Fran Lebowitz’s Take on NYC

Fran Lebowitz in "Pretend It's A City"

Fran Lebowitz, New York City icon, shows her views on everything related to the Big Apple in Martin Scorsese’s Netflix documentary Pretend It’s a City.

“People are infuriated by me because I am filled with opinions,” Lebowitz says.

In the trailer, Lebowitz chats with the Irishman director and they discuss everything from riding the subway to tourism, real estate, and transportation. The writer and public speaker goes from one end of New York City to the other while interacting with people including a salesman at the STRAND kiosk in Times Square to gym fanatics lugging tires around the street to exercise.

“People wanna challenge themselves. I find real life challenging enough,” Lebowitz says.

Scorsese, Lebowitz, David Tedeschi, Ted Griffin, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Joshua Porter, and Margaret Bodde executive produce the project.

This project is the second major Scorsese-Lebowitz collaboration. Scorsese directed the 2010 HBO documentary film Public Speaking, which featured clips of Lebowitz’s interviews. Lebowitz and Scorsese are longtime friends, and Lebowitz is known for publishing bestselling books including Metropolitan Life and Social Studies. She also had a cameo in Scorcese’s The Wolf of Wall Street.

Pretend It’s A City debuts on Netflix on January 8. Watch the trailer below.