The trials Martin Scorsese went through to make his 1980s passion project “The Last Temptation of Christ” are well publicized, but a new detail has been brought to light that proves how vital community is to cinema’s legacy. During a recent post-screening discussion at Anthology Film Archives in New York, Scorsese and star Willem Dafoe went into detail on how long the film took to come together and how the final step has some help from “Platoon” writer/director Oliver Stone.
Scorsese shared that he’d begun efforts to adapt Nikos Kazantzakis’ controversial novel in 1983, but said, “By the time 1987 came around, I didn’t believe it could ever get made.” His main hang-up was that he struggled to find an actor who would take on this complicated portrayal of Jesus Christ. Thankfully, his man came to him after screening a new film from Stone, his former student.
“I was an instructor at NYU in 1969, 1970, and he was in my class. That’s where I know him from,” said Scorsese (as per The Film Stage). Of seeing “Platoon” for the first time, which features one of Dafoe’s most iconic performances, he added, “So he’s going to show me his film and this guy’s in it [gesturing to Dafoe]. And I said, ‘What about him? This is good.’ And he said, ‘Yes.’”
Getting a “yes” from an actor to play Jesus was no small feat. Others, such as Aidan Quinn, had considered it, but getting a commitment proved a challenge. With Dafoe immediately agreeing, Scorsese knew he’d finally found some momentum on the project.
“The key was, he was gonna play Jesus. I had seen ‘To Live and Die in LA’ and I think we screened ‘Platoon,’ and we met and we talked, and he actually said he would do it,” said Scorsese. He added later, “It sounds simple, but it took years.”
From Dafoe’s perspective, he never even dreamed of being taken seriously for the part, despite many of his peers making inroads to claim it.
“Everyone I know is going up for it. Nobody’s talking to me,” he said at Anthology Film Archives. “And I think, ‘Okay, okay, I get it. This isn’t for me.’”
However, years after the initial casting search, at a time when Dafoe found himself far away from Hollywood or New York, he got a call he never expected to come.
“I was teaching in Massachusetts and staying at a very humble, light bed and breakfast,” said Dafoe. “There was no telephone in the room and the lady [at the front desk] said, ‘Hey, I got a call and there’s a message that Martin Scorsese wants to talk to you.’ And I thought, ‘What about?’”
The rest, as they say, is history. With the help of agent Mike Ovitz, Scorsese was able to secure a small budget for the film and he was finally able to bring his vision to the screen in 1988.
