Martin Scorsese reveals that he'd like to be in his planned Jesus movie

Martin Scorsese
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Martin Scorsese has spoken a little more about his idea for a movie about Jesus Christ – and he wants to be in it. 

"I don’t know what it’s going to be, exactly. I don’t know what you’d call it. It wouldn’t be a straight narrative," Scorsese told Time magazine in a new interview, going on to suggest that the film would build on some of the ideas he explored in his 2016 movie Silence, which follows two Catholic missionaries in 17th Century Japan. "But there would be staged scenes. And I’d be in it."

Scorsese announced that he and his wife met with the Pope earlier this year. "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," he revealed during a conference at the Vatican.

This isn't the only project Scorsese is cooking up, either – the director is also hoping to make an adaptation of Marilynne Robinson’s novel Home, which follows a reverend and his two adult children as they return to their Iowa hometown.

Next up for the filmmaker, though, is Killers of the Flower Moon, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, and Jesse Plemons and centers around the brutal killings of the Osage Nations in Oklahoma in the '20s that would become known as the Reign of Terror.

Killers of the Flower Moon is set to hit the big screen on October 20. While we wait, check out our guide to the rest of the year's most exciting movie release dates

Entertainment Writer

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at 12DOVE, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism. 

Read more
Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are finally moving forward with the serial killer movie they've been trying to make for 15 years
Dwayne Johnson in Ballers
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is set to lead Martin Scorsese's new movie, which is being described as Goodfellas meets The Departed
Robert Eggers and Martin Scorsese side-by-side
Martin Scorsese reveals that he's a huge fan of Nosferatu and director Robert Eggers too: "Anything this guy does, amazing"
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino is in "no hurry" to make his final movie – and has teased what he's "probably" doing next instead
Robert De Niro in The Alto Knights trailer
Robert De Niro is at war with Robert De Niro in trailer for new gangster thriller
The Wolf of Wall Street
The 32 greatest Leonardo DiCaprio movies
Latest in Drama Movies
Claire Danes as Juliet and Miriam Margolyes as Nurse in the movie Romeo + Juliet.
The 33 greatest movies based on Shakespeare
Bloodsport
The 32 greatest '80s action movies
Cosmo Jarvis
Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey adds Shogun star to its massively star-studded cast, and I'm getting Oppenheimer vibes all over again
Adrien Brody in The Brutalist
This year's Best Actor Oscars speech broke a record that was over 80 years old
Adrien Brody as László Tóth in The Brutalist
Oscars 2025 live coverage: All the winners, red carpet, and the 97th Academy Awards' biggest moments – as it happens
The Last Showgirl
Beneath the glitz and glam of The Last Showgirl is a heartbreaking story about what mothers give up
Latest in News
Diego Luna as Cassian Andor in Andor season 2
Andor season 2 showrunner Tony Gilroy breaks silence on the weird release schedule: "It's a Disney decision"
Jordan A. Mun looks at herself in a mirror in just a vest in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet screenshot
5 years after starting development, Neil Druckmann says Naughty Dog's new game Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is "still evolving and changing as we're making it"
Silent Hill f
After 2 years of silence, the next mainline Silent Hill game is getting a dedicated stream this week with "the latest news"
Original Xbox console
Former Microsoft exec says the first Xbox was killed early in favor of 360 because it was "losing money left right and center," but luckily "we could afford to hemorrhage cash"
A Monster Hunter Wilds character holding binoculars.
Despite Monster Hunter Wilds suffering monstrous performance problems on PC, it still outsold the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions in the US
Jordan A. Mun looks at herself in a mirror in just a vest in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet screenshot
The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann says Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will also be about "being lonely," as if his zombie apocalypse wasn’t isolating enough: "I really want you to be lost"