Martin Scorsese leaves the tough guy world far behind with his latest film "Hugo", a 3D fantasy set in pre-war Paris about an orphan and a toymaker -- as well as about himself, the US director said Monday.

Martin Scorsese (PIC/AFP)

Hugo, which hit US screens last month, is at once a warming Christmas carol and a cinephile's tribute to one of the art form's founding fathers, the Frenchman Georges Melies, a real-life magician turned experimental filmmaker.