Martin Scorsese Is Apparently Making Another Movie About Jesus
Fresh off telling Deadline it's "too late" to make another movie, Martin Scorsese looks to be gearing up to do just that. According to a report from Variety, the celebrated filmmaker is planning a new film about Jesus and is "about to start making it."
Arguably our greatest living filmmaker, Scorsese is coming off the Cannes debut for his upcoming film "Killers of the Flower Moon" — which, based on the early buzz, features some powerful performances and looks set to be another stellar entry in the Scorsese canon. The project received a nine-minute standing ovation at the film festival, after which Scorsese evidently embarked on a tour of Italy, meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican where he made the surprise announcement about his next film in response to questions from Anthony Spadaro, director of the international Jesuit magazine, "La Civiltà Cattolica" (as per the publication's website).
The revelation of a new movie to follow "Killers of the Flower Moon" came during a conference titled "The Global Aesthetics of the Catholic Imagination," where Scorsese reportedly said, "I have responded to the Pope's appeal to artists in the only way I know how: by imagining and writing a screenplay for a film about Jesus. And I'm about to start making it." Prior to his public comments, the director is said to have met privately with the Pope, after which he spoke about "how the Holy Father's appeal 'to let us see Jesus' moved him."
There are no further details at this time, with Variety reportedly reaching out to Scorsese's manager, Rick Yorn, to no avail.
The film remains somewhat of a mystery
Throughout one of the most prolific and diverse careers in Hollywood history, Martin Scorsese has explored religion on two significant occasions. His 2016 film "Silence" took 30 years to make and was somewhat of a passion project, telling the story of two Portuguese Jesuit priests who travel to Japan in search of their missing mentor. But it's arguably his 1988 film, "The Last Temptation of Christ," that most moviegoers are more familiar with and which sounds closer to whatever the director has in-store for his upcoming Jesus-centered project.
That 1988 portrayal of the King of Kings as a fallible, very human figure proved controversial upon the film's release for contradicting the widely accepted narrative of Jesus' last days. "The Last Temptation," with its vivid, often visceral depiction of its central character's exploits and eventual persecution, could also be said to be the perfect answer to the Pope's request for artists to "let us see Jesus," which makes whatever Scorsese has planned for this next film all the more mysterious and intriguing.
For now, it looks as though we'll have to wait to get any more details about the film. While in Italy, the director is said to be screening several of his own movies alongside others which have inspired his work. Hopefully some more news comes out of his ongoing tour, but for now it's nice to know the veteran filmmaker isn't calling actually calling it quits after all.