Martin Scorsese is the great American master of the cinema. He has maintained a stranglehold on pop culture for five decades, and found critical success where so many of his peers have struggled. That said, Scorsese still runs into problems when it comes time to finance his next project. Or in the case of the latest Variety report, multiple projects.
The outlet revealed that two of Scorsese's long-gestating film projects have been put on the shelf indefinitely. One of them is The Life of Jesus, which, as implied, details the life of Jesus Christ, and the other is a biopic about crooner Frank Sinatra.
Scorsese has tried to make a Sinatra film since 2000
Scorsese originally planned to make these two films back-to-back, with The Life of Jesus being a film that was seeking independent financing. No official cast had been announced, but the director was in talks to shoot in various locations throughout Israel, Egypt and Italy. Andrew Garfield was also floated as a potential star, given that he previously worked with Scorsese on 2016's Silence.
The Sinatra film, meanwhile, has been collecting dust since the early 2000s. Scorsese originally planned to tell the life story of the legendary singer with John Travolta in the title role, but it was suggested that Leonardo DiCaprio would play Sinatra instead, when the film was revived in April.
Both films were set to begin production this year
Martin Scorsese has spoken at length about the passion he has for both stories. He has also, more broadly speaking, discussed the importance of making stories he has a passion for as he gets older. He wants to make less films like 2010's Shutter Island and more films like The Irishman and Killers of the Flower Moon.
Variety does not provide a reason as to why The Life of Jesus and the Sinatra biopic were postponed. Both films were slated to begin production in 2024, with tentative releases set for 2025 and 2026. As it stands, Scorsese has no current film projects in the works.
He is, however, attached to produce a TV adaptation of Cape Fear for Apple TV. The series will be a remake of the 1962 film, which was remade by Scorsese himself in 1991.