Gangs of New York is a 2002 American historical drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian and Kenneth Lonergan, based on Herbert Asbury's 1927 book The Gangs of New York. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis and Cameron Diaz, with Jim Broadbent, John C. Reilly, Henry Thomas, Stephen Graham, Eddie Marsan and Brendan Gleeson in supporting roles. The film is set in 1862, when a long-running Catholic–Protestant feud erupts into violence, just as an Irish immigrant group is protesting against the threat of conscription.