Martin Scorsese gets blessing from Pope Francis for new film about Jesus

nypost.com:

attending the Cannes Film Festival last week, Scorsese visited Italy and had a conversation with Antonio Spadaro, editor-in-chief of the magazine “La Civiltà Cattolica” — translated to the “Catholic Civilization” — Monday.He revealed in the chat that he recently saw the pontiff, 86.“I responded to the Pope’s appeal to artists the only way I know how: by imagining and writing a screenplay for a film about Jesus,” he said. “And I’m about to start making it.”The “Aviator” director — who was raised Catholic and often deals with religious subjects in his films — also spoke with Spadaro about his acclaim for Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1964 epic “The Gospel According to St.

Matthew,” as well as his experience working on his 1988 drama “The Last Temptation of Christ.”He also discussed “the subsequent step in his research on the figure of Jesus” — defined by his 2016 film “Silence.” The film, starring Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver, detailed the killing of Jesuits in 17th-century Japan.

Scorsese’s sit-down was part of “The Global Aesthetics of the Catholic Imagination” conference that was held at the Villa Malta in Rome.The event was organized by Civiltà Cattolica in conjunction with Georgetown University.Spadaro and the Oscar-winner had crossed paths previously, with the Jesuit journalist interviewing the latter in 2016 about “Silence.”Scorsese even divulged that he considered entering the priesthood in his younger years and had always desired to make a movie about the clergy.“When I was younger, I was thinking of making a film about being a priest.