Willem Dafoe revealed that he was shocked by the negative reaction the film “The Last Temptation of Christ” received from the public.
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During the Sarajevo Film Festival, the 70-year-old actor, who portrayed Jesus in the 1988 religious drama directed by Martin Scorsese, confessed his disappointment with the controversy sparked by the production due to its explicit content.
“Jesus rejects his mission and lives as a normal man. He has children, has sex. That was far too scandalous for people, so even without seeing the film, there were massive protests against it,” Dafoe said, according to a report from the Hollywood Reporter.
For Dafoe, the controversy surrounding the film was a surprise: “I was shocked, because in an era of super-violent films, pornography, and all kinds of movies, this was a film that tried to explore the nature of faith,” he said. “It was a drag, because it was a film I was very involved in.”
“The Last Temptation of Christ,” which earned Scorsese an Academy Award nomination for Best Director, also featured Harvey Keitel as Judas Iscariot, David Bowie as Pontius Pilate, and Harry Dean Stanton as Paul.
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