Martin Scorsese is starting work on another Jesus film after his meeting with the Pope

On the weekend, director Martin Scorsese met Pope Francis and after that meeting, the director announced that he will start work on another film about Jesus Christ. Scorsese and his wife met the Pope during a brief private audience at the Vatican before attending the conference “The Global Aesthetics of the Catholic Imagination”.

After that meeting, Scorsese made the following announcement:

“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”.

So it looks like this Jesus movie will be his next project. This will be Scorsese’s second Jesus project. In 1988 he directed The Last Temptation of Christthe next film will be very different though.

The Last Temptation of Christ starred Willem Dafoe as Jesus, and the story focused on Jesus doubting his role as the Messiah, as he was tempted by visions of an ordinary life. It was based on a 1955 book by Nikos Kazantzakis, who was excommunicated by the Greek Orthodox Church after writing it. As you can imagine, both Scorsese’s book and film have been condemned by Christian groups and banned by the Catholic Church, something other Christians and most scholars have questioned, since the Bible depicts Jesus asking God to lift his burden, before accepting his fate. .

It will be interesting to see what Scorses does with his new Jesus film. One thing is for sure, the Christian film market is huge and a film like this could be a huge hit. Just look at what happened Mel Gobson‘S Christ’s passion era.

Source: variety