“I have responded to the Pope’s appeal to artists”- Martin Scorsese announces film about Jesus after meeting with the pope

After the screening of his long-awaited Killers of the Flower Moon at Cannes 2023, veteran director Martin Scorsese has reportedly turned his attention to a new pressing matter- a film about Jesus Christ.

Scorsese, who is well-known for his religious beliefs and use of faith in many of his previous works, has confirmed that he plans to make a film about Jesus Christ after he met with Pope Francis during a private audience at the Vatican.

Martin Scorsese is currently touring Italy after the conclusion of Cannes 2023. During this, he had a conference, titled The Global Aesthetics of the Catholic Imagination, before which the director and his wife met with the Pope.

This meeting was reportedly organized by the Jesuit publication La Civiltà Cattolica and Georgetown University.

Later, Scorsese spoke at the press conference, announcing his intention for this film, saying:

"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...And I’m about to start making it."

He also indicated that this could be the next big project for theTaxi Driver director after his Killers of the Flower Moon premieres in October 2023.

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The Pope's appeal "to let us see Jesus" moved Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese is easily one of the best-known and best-regarded directors of our time, if not of all time. He has worked in a variety of different genres, ranging from his favorite crime (Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, Casino) to dark comedies (The King of Comedy), and films about faith (Silence).

So, this will not be a huge deviation for the director, who has aptly represented faith in quite a few of his films.

Coming closest to this subject would be his masterpieceThe Last Temptation of Christ, which was also built around a similar premise, but was quite controversial in terms of the content.

According to Antonio Spadaro, editor of Jesuit publication La Civiltà Cattolica, who co-organized the conference, Martin Scorsese also talked to the pope about Pier Paolo Pasolini’s The Gospel According to St Matthew as well as his own works like The Last Temptation of Christ.

He also explained on his website how "the Holy Father’s appeal ‘to let us see Jesus’ moved the director.

Scorsese's team has rebuffed the rumors that this upcoming film would be related to Silence or The Last Temptation of Christ, both of which previously saw Scorsese deal with the subject of Christianity and faith.

Apart from this, no other details about the upcoming project are available. This has also been confirmed by the team.

Martin Scorsese is currently 80 years old and already has a few projects lined up. He is reportedly working on David Grann's non-fiction novel The Wager for Apple Studios, which will also see his long-term collaborator Leonardo Di Caprio as well. It was also announced previously that Scorsese is set to direct a Grateful Dead biopic.

Killers of the Flower Moon will premiere on October 6, 2023.