Happy Easter to all those who celebrate!
There was some religious news this week involving the recently Oscar-blanked Martin Scorsese…
…well, there were two bits of news, and this isn’t the one I feel particularly compelled to talk about. (Short, and perhaps hot, take: I’m glad Scorsese’s portrait of the saints will reach an audience that will likely skew more evangelical and thus remind them of the spiritual, not just cultural, mantle they should be taking up.)
Of much greater interest to me was Variety’s first tease of the screenplay for Scorsese’s impending Jesus film, which is gearing up to shoot later this year. The excerpt appears to be just setting up what’s to come, with a voiceover (presumptively Scorsese’s own) establishing:
“When the idea of making cinema started to become concrete, I had in mind to make a film about Christ in the modern world, in modern clothes, shot in 16mm and in black and white in the streets of New York, with apostles in suits and ties in old, peeling, weathered hallways, with the crucifixion set on the West Side piers and cops instead of centurions… my world.”
What we know thus far is that the film will be an adaptation of the book “A Life of Jesus” by Shūsaku Endō, who also wrote the source text of Scorsese’s 2016 masterpiece Silence. It will not be three hours long (get a new joke about his movies now, Jimmy Kimmel) and depict “Jesus’ core teachings in a way that explores the principles but doesn’t proselytize.” What, exactly, does that mean? Inspired by a piece where my friend
attempted to predict the shape of Licorice Pizza from just the trailer and what he knew about the director, I’m going to take my best guess at what we can expect from A Life Of Jesus.
This new speculation will be for paying subscribers only, so if you’re interested, maybe today’s the day you come Easter egg hunting with me?
If you’re not quite ready, you might want to read my review of Silence from 2017 (also published on Easter Day, to wit). I’ve unlocked this post on Martin Scorsese in conversation with film critic Christina Newland as well. These are the kinds of things you’ll receive every week in your inbox in addition to regular streaming lists!
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