Martin Scorsese has denied he is planning to retire, telling a press conference in Italy that he has “more films to make” after reports surfaced in September that two long-planned projects had been postponed.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Scorsese, 81, was speaking before an award ceremony in Turin and countered rumours he was no longer making films. “I’m not saying goodbye to cinema at all … I still have more films to make, and I hope God gives me the strength to make them.”

Two weeks ago Variety reported that two major Scorsese feature films, a biopic of Frank Sinatra and an adaptation of Shūsaku Endō’s 1973 novel A Life of Jesus, have been put on hold. The biographical account of the Jesus story by Endō (whose earlier novel Silence Scorsese has previously adapted) was thought to be Scorsese’s next movie after Killers of the Flower Moon; however, no cast has yet been announced and no start date has been scheduled.

The Sinatra biopic has been in the works since at least 2009. While at one point filming had been announced to begin in November, this too was reportedly cancelled with no new date. Reports also suggested that Sinatra’s family do not see eye to eye with Scorsese’s approach to the singer’s story, including Sinatra’s connections with organised crime.

Scorsese did, however, mention a project he is currently involved in: a “documentary about marine archaeology” called Shipwrecks of Sicily, in collaboration with underwater archaeologist Dr Lisa Briggs and filmed near Scorsese’s ancestral home. Scorsese said that recovering ancient artefacts from the seabed “moved me deeply”.