The Rolling Stones are considered by many to be the greatest existing rock band, and Martin Scorsese is considered by many to be the greatest living film director. So what happened when they teamed up? The concert movie “Shine a Light,” which has been released at regular and IMAX movie theaters. Although Scorsese has used many of the Rolling Stones’ songs in his movies, “Shine a Light” is the first time that he has directed a movie starring the legendary group. Filmed in autumn 2006 at New York’s Beacon Theatre (capacity: 2,800 people), “Shine a Light” features celebrity-guest performances from Jack White from the White Stripes, Christina Aguilera and Buddy Guy. Bill and Hillary Clinton also make cameos in the movie. (The concert was also a birthday bash for Bill and a fund-raiser for his William J. Clinton Foundation.) Before the film’s New York premiere, Scorsese, 65, and the members of the Rolling Stones — lead singer Mick Jagger, 64; guitarist Keith Richards, 64; guitarist Ronnie Wood, 60; and drummer Charlie Watts, 66 — gathered to share behind-the-scenes stories about the making of the movie.

Why did you choose New York’s relatively small Beacon Theatre to do this concert movie?

Scorsese: We discussed doing it at a bigger arena and I looked into that, and … I think I’m better suited to try to capture the group on a small stage, more for the intimacy than for the group and the way they play together. The way you see the band work together and work each song. I found that to be interesting and … it’s just a compulsion of mine. I love to be able to see that and be able to cut from one image to the other, movement, that sort of thing.

Jagger: The audience was a good audience, because I think they really got into the spirit of making the movie as well as enjoying being an audience for the band. They were a great audience for the band, but also they were a great audience for the movie.

Richards: They were all cameramen.

Scorsese: They enjoyed it, the cameramen liked it.

Richards: The Beacon Theatre is special for some reason anyway … especially if you’re going to play there for more than one night … The room sort of wraps its arms around you, and every night, it’s warmer. It’s a great-feeling room, and also, this band didn’t start off in stadiums. [He laughs.]

The band has boundless energy on stage. Mick, what vitamins do you take and what’s your workout routine?

Richards: [If we tell you], you’ll be on it.

Jagger: No gym, no vitamins. Just do it, just get out there … You get very pressurized in these situations. The thing I always find is when [there’s] a movie shoot, you really have to come up to the plate, and we fortunately had two nights. As Keith was saying, it’s good to play there more than one night, and I agree with him, because the first night we played was more like a rehearsal for us in a way, and by the time the second night came ’round, we got more adjusted to playing in a small theater. Because though we played lots of small theaters in the past, we hadn’t done it on this [most recent] tour, so this was quite different to suddenly go into this small theater. By the second night, we knew how to sort of do it. This was going to be the night with all these people there and everything, but I felt really good about that particular night, so you just have to almost come and do it.

Richards: But it was a turn-on.

Jagger: Yeah. [He laughs]

Why did you choose Martin Scorsese as the director? What could he do that other directors couldn’t?

Jagger: He’s the best one around. He’s not part of the furniture [He laughs]… He’s a fantastic director and you [talking to Scorsese] assembled a wonderful crew, and I think he would agree with that. He got fantastic DPs [directors of photography], camera, lighting, everyone working on it … It’s not all in the shooting. It’s obviously in the editing too.

Richards Also, we didn’t choose Marty. Marty chose us.

Scorsese: It was mutual.