It looks like Martin Scorsese’s “The Life of Jesus” is definitely happening. It’s going to be starting production in the fall, most likely in October.
I can also confirm Andrew Garfield’s participation in the project, but Miles Teller, the other rumored actor, seems to be a maybe at the moment. The film, mostly set in the present day, will be shooting in Italy, Egypt and Israel.
Scorsese is independently financing “The Life of Jesus,” based on Shūsaku Endō’s 1973 book, and it’s set to be one of the least costly projects for him in quite some time. For the last 25 years he’s been helming big studio productions, and this one seems to be a much more intimate film.
Describing the project, Scorsese has said that it would be around 80 minutes and focus on “Jesus’ core teachings in a way that explores the principles but doesn’t proselytize,” adding “it’s kind of a film, but it wouldn’t be a straight narrative, it wouldn’t be a documentary, it’d be a combination of things.
Scorsese completed the screenplay, collaborating with critic and filmmaker Kent Jones, and it’ll be set, mostly, in the present day, although Scorsese admitted that he doesn’t want to be locked into a certain period, because he wants the film to feel timeless.
“I’m trying to find a new way to make it more accessible and take away the negative onus of what has been associated with organized religion,” Scorsese says.
Last July, Scorsese mentioned that for years he’s been looking to make a film about the life of Christ. He wanted to make one in the early ‘70s, in 16mm black and white. However, it was seeing Pasolini’s “The Gospel According to St Matthew” that made him decide against it.
Before he embarks on “The Life of Jesus,” Scorsese recently arrived in Italy to shoot his documentary about ancient shipwrecks in Sicily.
Following “Air,” this is Affleck’s latest stint behind the camera. He has cast himself in the lead role, alongside Kerry Washington, Steven Yeun, and Gillian Anderson (“The X-Files”).