In an interview with Roger Ebert, Scorsese clarified the real issues in the cutting of the film. Ebert notes,
"His discussions with Weinstein, he said, were always about finding the length where the picture worked. When that got to the press, it was translated into fights. The movie is currently 168 minutes long, he said, and that is the right length, and that's why there won't be any director's cut—because this is the director's cut.