Hollywood Legend Martin Scorsese, 80, Reveals He’s Working On New Movie About Jesus Christ

The legendary Hollywood director Martin Scorsese, who has previously made classics like Goodfellas and Taxi Driver, has just revealed that he is working on a new movie about Jesus Christ.

Scorsese’s New Movie

Scorsese, 80, revealed this while visiting Pope Francis at the Vatican last weekend.

“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 said during the meeting, according to Christian Post. “And I’m about to start making it.”

The Pope reportedly responded by offering words of encouragement.

“This is your work as poets, storytellers, filmmakers, artists: to give life, to give body, to give word to everything that human beings live, feel, dream, suffer, creating harmony and beauty,” the Pope allegedly said. “Will they criticize you? All right, carry the burden of criticism, also trying to learn from criticism. But still, don’t stop being original, creative. Do not lose the wonder of being alive.”

Representatives for Scorsese told The Guardian that they had no further details to offer about his new film at this time.

Related: Mark Wahlberg Refuses To Deny His Christian Faith Even Though It’s ‘Not Popular’ In Hollywood

Scorsese’s Faith

Back in 2016, Scorsese said that while he does not go to church regularly, his “way has been, and is, Catholicism. After many years of thinking about other things, dabbling here and there, I am most comfortable as a Catholic.”

“I believe in the tenets of Catholicism. I’m not a doctor of the church. I’m not a theologian who could argue the Trinity. I’m certainly not interested in the politics of the institution,” he explained, according to National Catholic Reporter. “But the idea of the Resurrection, the idea of the Incarnation, the powerful message of compassion and love — that’s the key. The sacraments, if you are allowed to take them, to experience them, help you stay close to God.”

When asked if he’s ever felt God’s presence, Scorsese replied, “When I was young and serving Mass, there was no doubt that there was a sense of the sacred.”

“At any rate, I remember going out on the street after the Mass was over and wondering: ‘How can life just be going on? Why hasn’t everything changed? Why isn’t the world directly affected by the body and blood of Christ?'” he continued. “That’s the way that I experienced the presence of God when I was very young.”

Related: Mel Gibson Pays Tribute To ‘Passion Of The Christ’ Star Christo Jivkov After He Dies At 48 

Pope Gives Advice To Artists

Earlier this year, the Pope told Scorsese and other artists who are trying to tell the story of Jesus “not to ‘explain’ the mystery of Christ, which is ultimately unfathomable, but to enable us to touch him, to feel his closeness, to let us see him as alive and to open our eyes to the beauty of his promises. Because his promises appeal to our imagination: they help us to imagine in a new way our lives, our history and the future of humanity.”

“Continue to dream, to be restless, to conjure up words and visions that can help us interpret the mystery of human life and guide our societies toward beauty and universal fraternity,” he continued, according to America Magazine.

Scorsese’s next project won’t be the first time that he has depicted Jesus on screen, as he previously directed The Last Temptation Of Christ back in 1988. We cannot wait to see how he portrays Jesus in his upcoming film, which will likely be coming out in a few years!