Hollywood is fickle, and projects often suddenly find themselves with heat and on the fast track, and then they dissipate. And sometimes Hollywood filmmakers are the same. Take filmmaker Martin Scorsese, for instance. In the last two years, he’s ping-ponged all over the place with projects he would make. For a minute there, “The Wager,” with Leonardo DiCaprio, looked like it was next. Then, his long-running Frank Sinatra film seemed to move forward when Jennifer Lawrence became attached alongside DiCaprio. However, an adaptation of Marilynne Robinson’s novel “Home” may be the next movie to hit the screen.
His “A Life of Jesus” film with Andrew Garfield and Miles Teller is also in the works, but “Home” could be next.
“It’s an option, but I’m still working on it,” Scorsese told the Associated Press about the gestating “A Life of Jesus,” adding, “There’s a very strong possibility of me doing a film version of Marilynne Robinson’s ‘Home,’ but that’s a scheduling issue.”
Spirituality, God, and religion seem to be Scorsese’s latest mode, following up on his most recent foray into that thematic world with “Silence.”
Considered part of her “Gilead” series, Robinson’s “Home” takes place in the same fictional rural Iowa town and shares many of the same characters. The novel focuses on a woman returning to care for her dying father while exploring deep themes of mortality and theology through philosophical references and Biblical quotations.
Scorsese also discussed the potential to revisit his family life and the “possibility of me going back and dealing with the stories from my mother and father from the past and how they grew up. Stories about immigrants, which tied into my trip to Sicily.”
Either way, at age 82, it sounds like Scorsese is pressing on to get back behind the camera as soon as possible.
“Right now, there’s been a long period after ‘Killers of the Flower Moon.’ Even though I don’t like getting up early, I’d like to shoot a movie right now,” Scorsese remarked. “Time is going. I’ll be 82. Gotta go.”
Scorsese also suggested that some of these less personal projects he has in the works may not happen.
“You’re guided by: Is it worth doing at this late stage in your life? Can you make it through? Is it worth your time? Because now, the most valuable thing aside from people I love, my family, is time,” Scorsese said. “That’s all there is.”
Time will tell what’s next, but if “Home” is indeed next, hopefully, Scorsese still has a handful of films left in him.
