You have to assume that Martin Scorsese is loving life right now. Not only is he just one of the most revered filmmakers of all time, but he is coming off a hugely successful Cannes, where he debuted his latest film, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which is now deep in the awards season discussion. But the filmmaker is already looking ahead, and what is perhaps right in front of him is none other than Jesus Christ.
Speaking at a Roman event titled “The Global Aesthetics of the Catholic Imagination” (via Variety), Martin Scorsese talked about what he’s working on next. And maybe he was caught up in the fervor of just meeting Pope Francis, but the filmmaker teased that he is currently working on a film about Jesus Christ. Not only that, Scorsese said that he is already in the process of developing it, hinting that it could be the next project on his schedule.
“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,” Scorsese said. “And I’m about to start making it.”
Taken at face value, that does certainly sound like a man saying that his next film will be a feature focused on Jesus. Now, Scorsese is also notorious (as are many directors) for having grand plans to make films, only to find those plans scuttled when something falls through. So, don’t take this as some sort of guarantee that the filmmaker’s next Jesus film is going to be coming soon.
And yes, we have to say “next Jesus film,” as he already has made one feature about the life of Jesus Christ. That would, of course, be “The Last Temptation of Christ,” which was released way back in 1988 and wasn’t an absolutely massive hit. In fact, ‘Last Temptation’ found Scorsese in quite a bit of controversy due to religious folks taking exception to some of the content found in the film.
That said, it definitely does sound like Martin Scorsese is currently working on some sort of film about Jesus. Who knows? Maybe he’ll get Leonardo DiCaprio (his current muse) to star in the film? We’ll just have to wait and see.