Director Martin Scorsese to Film New Jesus Movie this Year

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Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese is revealing more details about his upcoming movie about Jesus, saying he has completed the script and plans on shooting it later in 2024.

Last summer, Scorsese had said he felt inspired to make a film about Christ after meeting with Pope Francis during a cinematic event in Italy.

Scorsese told the Los Angeles Times in an interview published this month that he is collaborating with critic and filmmaker Kent Jones. They are “swimming in inspiration,” he said.

The movie will be based on Shūsaku Endō’s 1978 book “A Life of Jesus.” Endō co-wrote the 2016 movie Silence, which told the story of missionaries in Japan.

“I’m trying to find a new way to make it more accessible and take away the negative onus of what has been associated with organized religion,” Scorsese told the Times.

The movie, he said, will be set “mostly in the present day,” though “Scorsese doesn’t want to be locked into a certain period because he wants the film to feel timeless,” the Times reported. 

“He envisions the movie to run around 80 minutes, focusing on Jesus’ core teachings in a way that explores the principles but doesn’t proselytize,” the Times said.

Many people, Scorsese noted, have rejected religion. 

“Right now, ‘religion,’ you say that word, and everyone is up in arms because it’s failed in so many ways,” Scorsese said. “But that doesn’t mean necessarily that the initial impulse was wrong. Let’s get back. Let’s think about it. You may reject it. But it might make a difference in how you live your life — even in rejecting it. Don’t dismiss it offhand. That’s all I’m talking about. And I’m saying that as a person who’s going to be 81 in a couple of days. You know what I’m saying?”

Scorsese directed the controversial 1988 film The Last Temptation of Christ and 2016’s Silence. Although Temptation sparked protests, Silence was widely praised among mainstream and religious audiences. 

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Photo Courtesy: @Getty Images/Amy Sussman / Staff

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel. 

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