The Last Temptation of Christ
By April 24, 2000
Can we finally look at The Last Temptation of Christ? It’s not a simple question. And there are no easy answers. The Last Temptation of Christ is, without question, one of the most serious Read more »
- United States
- 1988
- 163 minutes
- Color
- 1.85:1
- English
- Spine #70
SYNOPSIS: The Last Temptation of Christ, by Martin Scorsese, is a towering achievement. Though it initially engendered enormous controversy, the film can now be viewed as the remarkable, profoundly personal work of faith that it is. This fifteen-year labor of love, an adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis’s landmark novel that imagines an alternate fate for Jesus Christ, features outstanding performances by Willem Dafoe, Barbara Hershey, Harvey Keitel, Harry Dean Stanton, and David Bowie; bold cinematography by the great Michael Ballhaus; and a transcendent score by Peter Gabriel.
Cast & CreditsOpen
Cast
| Jesus | Willem Dafoe |
| Judas | Harvey Keitel |
| Mary Magdalene | Barbara Hershey |
| Saul/Paul | Harry Dean Stanton |
| Pontius Pilate | David Bowie |
| Mary, mother of Jesus | Verna Bloom |
| Jeroboam | Barry Miller |
| Zebedee | Irvin Kershner |
| John the Baptist | André Gregory |
| Girl angel | Juliette Caton |
Credits
| Director | Martin Scorsese |
| Based on the novel by | Nikos Kazantzakis |
| Produced by | Barbara De Fina |
| Screenplay | Paul Schrader |
| Executive producer | Harry Ufland |
| Director of photography | Michael Ballhaus |
| Original score composed by | Peter Gabriel |
| Edited by | Thelma Schoonmaker |
| Production designer | John Beard |
| Costume designer | Jean-Pierre Delifer |
| Casting | Cis Corman |
Disc Features
DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION:
- Restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by cinematographer Michael Ballhaus and editor Thelma Schoonmaker, with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack by supervising sound editor Skip Lievsay
- Audio commentary featuring director Martin Scorsese, actor Willem Dafoe, and writers Paul Schrader and Jay Cocks
- Galleries of production stills, research materials, and costume designs
- Location production footage shot by Scorsese
- Interview with composer Peter Gabriel, with a stills gallery of traditional instruments used in the score
- PLUS: An essay by film critic David Ehrenstein
From the CurrentView the Current »
Film Essays
News
Three Go 3-D
April 19, 2010
Post-Avatar, it seems some of our favorite filmmakers have caught 3-D fever. Just in the past week, it’s been confirmed that Martin Scorsese, Wim Wenders, and Werner Herzog will soon be getting us to wear Read more »
Ballhaus: From Fassbinder to Scorsese
February 18, 2010
Michael Ballhaus, German cinematographer turned Academy Award–nominated Hollywood DP, is getting his due at the Cinémathèque française, in a retrospective that begins this week and Read more »
Scorsese’s Next Invention
January 22, 2010
Following in the triumphant recent footsteps of Wes Anderson and Spike Jonze, Martin Scorsese is, according to reports in Variety and the Guardian, likely turning to children’s literature for Read more »
Clippings
Shock Cinema
February 09, 2011
Not all of cinema’s greatest achievements have always been widely embraced. The film writers of Time Out New York have just illustrated this maxim with a sensational article called “The 50 Most Controversial Read more »
