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Blake, Wm. Christ Appearing to the Apostles After the Resurrection. 1795.

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Martin Scorsese has announced a new film based on the life of Jesus Christ. 

After “Killers of the Flower Moon” premiered at Cannes in May, Scorsese traveled to Italy with his wife to attend a conference titled the Global Aesthetics of the Catholic Imagination. Afterward, he met briefly with Pope Francis and later announced, “I have responded to the pope’s appeal to artists in the only way I know how: by imagining and writing a screenplay for a film about Jesus.”

Scorsese has completed the screenplay, co-written with critic and filmmaker Kent Jones, and expects to shoot later this year.

Scorsese: We’re still “swimming in inspiration. 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.”

The film is inspired by Shūsaku Endō’s book “A Life of Jesus,” and will mostly be set in the present day, focusing on the core teachings of Jesus.

Scorsese envisions the film to run around 80 minutes, exploring Jesus' principles in a non-proselytizing way.