Martin Scorsese says he became an "expert" in western movies because of his asthma.

The director admitted that his love of the cinema came about because as a child he wasn't allowed outside to play due to ill health.

Martin quickly fell in love with the world of make believe.

"As a boy with asthma I wasn't allowed near something green or animals. I couldn't do sports," he told Cover Media. "So I was taken to the movie theatres pretty often. I became an expert in the western genre. What I couldn't go near - there it was on the screen."

His father took him to see a movie called The Magic Box in the early 1950s.

The story about a man who made the first movie camera inspired the Taxi Driver director to make his own films.

"The movie that created the most impression on me about movie making was The Magic Box. My father took me to see it 1952," he remembered. "It wasn't about the moving images more about the passion and obsession of the people who created it. And something about it, the beauty about this potential of creating something - that impressed me."

Chlo Moretz who stars in Martin's latest project, Hugo, also recalled the film that inspired her the most.

The 14-year-old is fascinated by the late Audrey Hepburn.

"My mom is obsessed about Audrey Hepburn," she smiled. "And one of the first movies I saw at the movies and make me want to become an actor was Breakfast at Tiffany's. And Audrey Hepburn with her little face, how she made people smile. I wanted to do that as well. I want to make people smile.

Gandhi star, Ben Kingsley, also stars in Hugo. He admitted that the first film to make an impression on him was not because of the acting, but because of the fame he acquired with it.

"It was a movie called Never Take No for an Answer," he confessed. "I was so taken by the film. And I looked very much like the little boy [in the movie]. After the screening in Salford the cinema owner spotted me in the audience and thought that I was the star of the film. And he said to the Salford audience ' It is little Peppino!' and he lifted me up. And I thought 'Oh, I could get use to this.' That made a massive impression on me."

Hugo is released in the UK on December 2.