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From Dennis Michael
CNN Entertainment News Correspondent

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- The premiere of "Bringing Out the Dead" happened to coincide with the Atlanta Braves-New York Mets National League Championship playoffs. And Dustin Hoffman was overheard giving a timely answer to a reporter's question about Martin Scorsese: Why is he a great director?

"Because," answered Hoffman, "he believes in the Mets."

Hoffman could certainly have named other important qualities that have helped Scorsese score repeat hits both critically and at the box office. "Mean Streets" in 1973, "Taxi Driver" in 1976, "Raging Bull" in 1980, the controversial "The Last Temptation of Christ" in 1988 and "Casino" in 1995 underscore his strong batting average.

His latest film, "Bringing Out the Dead," may put him into the running for an Academy Award. That would give him his fifth nomination for a best-director Oscar, a trophy he has yet to take home.

Some have already drawn parallels between the setting and subject matter for both "Bringing Out the Dead" and "Taxi Driver." The new film stars Nicolas Cage as a burned-out New York City paramedic hanging by the end of his mental rope. The Academy-nominated "Taxi Driver" focuses on a mentally unstable Vietnam war veteran who works as a nighttime cabby in New York.

Unlike that violent veteran, Cage's character is a caregiver, someone Cage says struggles with his compulsion to save lives and the tragedy of sometimes failing -- "which puts him right up against God or nature, in that it's out of his hands.

"And when your job is to save lives and nature takes its course, that becomes very stressful for him."

"Heat, humidity, moonlight: all the elements in place for a long weekend," Cage's Frank Pierce tells viewers at the film's start. "I was good at my job. There were periods when my hands moved with a speed and a skill beyond me."

The film, in which Cage's paramedic team is rounded out by Ving Rhames, John Goodman and Tom Sizemore, brings to mind films like "M*A*S*H" or "The Hospital" in juxtaposing the raw edges of healing and helping.

"It's kind of a unique concept, but it's totally real, isn't it?" Cage asks. "I mean, these paramedics put themselves in incredibly stressful situations, are killing themselves to save our lives and they're not really regarded or appreciated."

The screenplay, adapted by Paul Schrader, is based on the autobiographical novel of the same title in which Joe Connelly recounts stress levels so high that even Scorsese says he found them difficult to believe.

"There was one scene in particular," Scorsese says. "I said, 'I think it's too much.' (Connelly) goes, 'Believe me, it is just about right.' And I kept questioning him about this. In fact, I went back and I reshot it. I toned some of it down. He said, 'The other one was better.'"

Cage's love interest in the film is also his real-life wife, Patricia Arquette

It was Nicolas Cage's first project with Martin Scorsese -- he was the director's first choice for the role of Frank, partly because of his face: "Here you have an actor whose face is full of compassion and who is suffering, and his eyes reveal that," Scorsese told one reporter.

Cage says the working relationship was exactly the opposite of the high-pressure subject at hand.

"One of the things I would suggest to anybody who is feeling burnt in the film business," says Cage: "They should spend one hour with Martin Scorsese and they'll be rejuvenated, because this man has so much passion and love for the craft of filmmaking that it's impossible not to have it rub off on you. It's exhilarating to be around."

Cage's co-star, Patricia Arquette, is his wife off the screen. It's their first work together.

"I always knew she was great," Cage says, "but this was the first time I got to see her in the work background."

Arquette is equally complimentary. "He's my favorite actor, and watching him build a character from scratch and reveal itself -- it was really fascinating."