The Oscar-winning film-maker, Martin Scorsese, has said he would prefer to shoot all his future films in 3D following his experiences with new movie Hugo, which has received impressive critical notices and is being tipped for awards season success.

In an interview with the Deadline blog, Scorsese also suggested that his previous films Taxi Driver and The Aviator might have benefited from being shot in stereoscope. He compared the recent wave of films using the technology to the arrival of Technicolor in the mid-1930s.

Scorsese was asked by Deadline if he would prefer to shoot all his movies in 3D going forward. "Quite honestly, I would," he replied. "I don't think there's a subject matter that can't absorb 3D; that can't tolerate the addition of depth as a storytelling technique.

The film-maker continued: "We view everyday life with depth. I think certain subject matters aren't meant for 3D but you have to go back to Technicolor; when it was used in 1935 with Becky Sharp. For about 10-15 years, Technicolor was relegated to musicals, comedies and westerns. It wasn't intended for the serious genres, but now everything is in colour. And so it's just a different mindset. Granted once the technology advances and you can eliminate glasses that are hindrances to some moviegoers, so why not? It's just a natural progression."

Scorsese said he felt the use of 3D should not be limited to fantasy or sci-fi films such as James Cameron's Avatar, and pointed out the success of Werner Herzog's use of stereoscope in the documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams, as well as Wim Wenders' utilisation of the technology in the ballet documentary Pina. "It should be considered a serious narrative element and tool, especially when telling a story with depth as narrative," he said.

Asked which of his own previous films might have benefited from the use of 3D, he replied: That's an interesting question. Let's see ... Aviator, maybe? Maybe Taxi Driver … because of the intimidation of the main character: his presence is everywhere, a frightening kind of presence."

Scorsese said the "climate ... seemed right" to make a 3D film with Hugo, only two years after he said he was not interested in the technology. "The subject matter was just perfect for it," he said. "And it was time to take a chance with it."

Hugo, which is based on the award-winning Brian Selznick children's book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, is a period fantasy tale about a 12-year-old boy who lives in the walls of a train station in 1930s Paris. The young British actor Asa Butterfield, best known for his role in the 2008 Holocaust film The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, plays the lead, with Kick-Ass's Chloe Moretz as an eccentric girl whom he meets.

Other castmembers include Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jude Law, Ray Winstone, Helen McCrory and Christopher Lee. The film opens in the UK this week. It was praised as "an intricately designed and beautifully rendered story aimed squarely at that fabled (and commercially invaluable) point at which childlike fantasy intersects with adult yearning" by the Guardian's Andrew Pulver in a recent review.