Martin Scorsese is to follow up his triumphant true-crime epic Killers of the Flower Moon with an 80-minute film about Jesus designed to “take away the negative[s] … associated with organised religion”.
During an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Scorsese discussed the concept behind the film, which is based on Shūsaku Endō’s book A Life of Jesus. Endō, a Japanese Catholic writer, had his novel Silence previously adapted by Scorsese. Scorsese shared that he and his writing partner Kent Jones had completed the screenplay and were feeling very inspired for the project. The film is said to take place mostly in present day and will center on Jesus’s fundamental teachings in a way that examines their principles without promoting a particular belief.
“I am attempting to discover a fresh approach to make it easier to understand and remove the negative reputation that has been linked to organized religion.”
The 81-year-old director stated, “Currently, the word ‘religion’ evokes strong reactions because it has failed in many ways. However, this does not necessarily mean that the initial intention was incorrect. Let’s take a step back and consider it. You may choose to reject it, but it could still have an impact on how you live your life – even if it’s through rejecting it. Don’t dismiss it without thought. That’s all I’m trying to convey.”
The director Martin Scorsese announced that he plans to film his movie in 2024. He was motivated to start working on it after meeting with Pope Francis in 2023 and attending a conference called “The Global Aesthetics of the Catholic Imagination,” which was organized by the Jesuit publication La Civiltà Cattolica. Scorsese told the media, “I have followed the pope’s call to artists by using my imagination to write a screenplay about Jesus.”
Scorsese has a significant track record with films with overt religious themes. His 1988 adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis’ The Last Temptation of Christ triggered worldwide controversy and protests for its depiction of an alternative timeline for Jesus’s life, while Silence, released in 2016, portrayed the struggles of Jesuit priests persecuted for their religion in 17th-century Japan. In 1997 Scorsese also released Kundun, a biographical film about the Dalai Lama.
The creation of the movie version of The Life of Jesus seems to have delayed the release of another project by Scorsese, which was recently announced. This project is an adaptation of the 2023 non-fiction book The Wager by David Grann, titled Killers of the Flower Moon. The book tells the story of the 1741 Wager Mutiny. In a recent interview with Indiewire, Scorsese mentioned that the hectic awards season for Killers of the Flower Moon has caused him to take a break. He also mentioned the possibility of co-directing the film due to its seaborne setting.
This past Sunday, Killers of the Flower Moon received a Golden Globe for its lead actress Lily Gladstone and is predicted to receive numerous nominations for prestigious awards in the upcoming weeks.
Source: theguardian.com
