Martin Scorsese has never shied away from religion in his films, but his next project could be his most religious yet – it’s almost like the Pope sent the filmmaker on this mission.
Just one week removed from Cannes, where the legendary filmmaker debuted his upcoming Killers of the Flower Moon, we have confirmation on his next project. Scorsese broke the news at Global Aesthetics of the Catholic Imagination, declaring his next project would be a film about Jesus inspired by a conversation with Pope Francis.
“I have responded to the Pope’s appeal to artists in the only way I know how: by imagining and writing a screenplay for a film about Jesus,” Scorsese announced at the Vatican. He adds, “And I’m about to start making it.”
Per Variety, The Global Aesthetics of the Catholic Imagination conference was organized by the Jesuit publication La Civiltà Cattolica and Georgetown University. The trade notes, “Scorsese and his wife Helen Morris met Pope Francis during a brief private audience at the Vatican.”
Antonio Spadaro from the Board of Directors at Georgetown shared some photos from the event. Check out the tweet below…
Thank you to Martin #Scorsese for accepting the invitation to join us of La Civiltà Cattolica and Georgetown University – along with his wife and daughter – in the meeting of 40 poets and writers from different Countries with #PopeFrancesco, who said among other things, "This is… pic.twitter.com/yG6bEyo2Wq
— Antonio Spadaro (@antoniospadaro) May 27, 2023
Scorsese is no stranger to religion or stories about Jesus Chris; the filmmaker infamously helmed the 1988 film The Last Temptation of Christ – following the biblical story of Jesus and his fight against temptations. He followed that project up with the 2016 drama Silence about persecuted 17th-century Jesuit priests.
Scorsese’s manager Rick Yorn has not confirmed the news regarding this new religious film.
The next Martin Scorsese film is Killers of the Flower Moon, which premiered to rave reactions at the 76th annual Cannes Film Festival.
Members of the Osage tribe in the United States are murdered under mysterious circumstances in the 1920s, sparking a major F.B.I. investigation involving J. Edgar Hoover.
Killers of the Flower Moon stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Brendan Fraser, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, Jillian Dion, William Belleau, Jason Isbell, Louis Cancelmi, Scott Shepherd, John Lithgow, and Sturgill Simpson.
The film will premiere in select theaters on October 6, 2023, before expanding on October 20, 2023, and then streaming globally on Apple TV+.
