Martin Scorsese Gives Update on New Jesus Movie

Martin Scorsese has given an update on his upcoming film based on the life of Jesus, teasing that he hasn’t yet figured out how to go about it.

“I’m contemplating it right now,” Scorsese said during an appearance at a press conference at the Berlin Film Festival (via Deadline). “What kind of film I’m not quite sure, but I want to make something unique and different that could be thought-provoking and I hope also entertaining. I’m not quite sure yet how to go about it.”

The legendary director went on to say that he would likely begin working on the film once the promotion and award season was over.

“Maybe I’ll get some sleep and then wake up and I’ll have this fresh idea of how to do it,” said Scorsese. “The possibilities of making a film, the concept of Jesus, the idea of Jesus really stems from my background growing up in the Lower East Side, my interest in Catholicism, in the priesthood, which really led I think, ultimately to the film Silence.”

Movie won’t be the “usual, straight narrative” of Jesus’ life

Earlier this year, Scorsese said that his film wouldn’t be a “usual, straight narrative” version of Jesus’ life, saying some of it would be based on the book A Life of Jesus by Shūsaku Endō, which deals with the figure of Jesus and how he pertains to people’s lives nowadays.

“But it wouldn’t be a usual, straight narrative of the life of Jesus in any way,” Scorsese said. “It would be something that makes us think of Jesus in the present. And in a different way, too. Some of it would be based on what Shūsaku Endō wrote in his book A Life of Jesus. I thought it was really interesting how he comes about it from an Asian point of view to make us see Jesus in another way, and how it pertains to our lives now. And how it’ll always be something at the crux of our lives.”

Scorsese, who already made The Last Temptation of Christ in 1988, announced he was making a new movie about Jesus Christ in May 2023 after he and his wife Helen Morris privately met with Pope Francis at the Vatican.

In October 2023, Scorsese also confirmed to Sight and Sound that the movie wouldn’t have a straightforward narrative.