Acclaimed filmmaker Martin Scorsese confirmed last year that he had a project in the pipeline about Jesus Christ after meeting Pope Francis and has now revealed that the screenplay is complete and production is scheduled. “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 organised religion,” Scorsese told the LA Times newspaper.
The director has revealed that the picture will only be 80 minutes long—a far cry from the lengthy runtimes of his recent movies and is to focus on the principles of Jesus Christ’s core teachings. His last 'Killers of a Flower Moon' was 206 minutes and is now headed for the Oscars.
Scorsese co-wrote the new project with critic and filmmaker Kent Jones. It is based on Shūsaku Endō’s book A Life of Jesus — Endo also wrote Silence, which Scorsese adapted for the screen in 2016. “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 just 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,” he added.
The filmmaker explained how the movie will reflect what several of his previous projects have attempted to achieve. “I tried finding it with Kundun and The Last Temptation of Christ, even Gangs of New York, to a certain extent, ways into redemption and the human condition and how we deal with the negative things inside us,” he said.
“Are we decent and then learn to become indecent? Can we change? Will others accept that change? And it really is, I think, a fear of society and culture that’s corrupted because of its lack of grounding in morality and spirituality.”
