Martin Scorsese indefinitely postpones both his Jesus movie and Sinatra biopic
Both project were supposed to go into production this year
Photo: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images
Our deepest condolences to everyone geared up to see Andrew Garfield take a crack at the Lord and Savior. According to Variety, Martin Scorsese’s bluntly-named biblical epic The Life Of Jesus has been indefinitely postponed, along with his planned Frank Sinatra biopic. Both were set to go into production back-to-back this year.
Maybe Jesus himself interceded and told Scorsese that he needed way more than 80 minutes to tell his story. Regardless, the project, which a source told Variety was still in development, was based on the 1973 novel by Shūsaku Endō. (Endō also wrote the book on which Scorsese’s 2016 film Silence was based.) While no official casting had been announced, Garfield was rumored to be circling the role of the man of the hour, with Miles Teller also in talks at one point. No official reason for the delay has been given, but Variety reports that the director was hoping to shoot in Italy, Egypt, and Israel, which poses some logistical challenges right now. He’s also reportedly going outside the studio system and financing the picture independently, which, as we know all too well from the whole Megalopolis fiasco, could potentially take decades.
The postponement of the Sinatra biopic is a bit more vague. Variety reports that “artisans and other key stakeholders” involved in the project were notified in mid-August that the film’s planned November start date had been canceled, with no rescheduled date given. Also like Megalopolis, this one has been in development for years, with the initial announcement coming as far back as 2009. In the interim, Scorsese was rumored to have assembled an all-star cast including frequent collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio as the titular crooner and Jennifer Lawrence as Sinatra’s second wife, Ava Gardner. Variety speculates that the delay might have come down to the film not receiving approval from Sinatra’s estate, as it focuses on a tumultuous period of the singer’s life. Then again, Scorsese also said he was giving up on the film in 2017, so you never really know. This one could fly to the moon and play among the stars yet.