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Willem Dafoe Calls All the Criticism that The Last Temptation of Christ Received 'Strange': 'It Became a Huge Antisemitic Thing'
Willem Dafoe opens up about The Last Temptation of Christ controversy and how it had an impact on his acting career. Read on to know the details.
Willem Dafoe recently spoke about the lasting impact of his role in the controversial 1988 film The Last Temptation of Christ. The movie where Dafoe portrays Jesus shocked the world, and that was precisely because of its director, Martin Scorsese.
Dafoe opened up to Louis Theroux on The Louis Theroux Podcast revealing that he was removed from the cast of a movie due to his association with Last Temptation.
The Nosferatu star said, "I mean, down the road there was one project in particular that I was cast in and the studio uncast me because they didn’t like that I was associated with Last Temptation. But I don’t want to do a big crocodile tear about that because it could have been much worse."
Dafoe was surprised by the huge backlash, arguing that the only purpose of the film was to focus on the human nature of Jesus and not to degrade religious beliefs. He found the backlash extremely strange.
The Kinds of Kindness actor said, "It’s just strange, in a world of slasher films and ****, that people got so upset about this because it’s based on a novel and, broadly speaking, they’re changing the classic story a little bit to consider the character of Jesus in a different way, that’s all."
The 69-year-old veteran actor went on to explain that The Last Temptation of Christ, as a movie adaptation of the book, reinterpreted the story of Jesus by focusing on his human side rather than his divine nature.
"It’s not this plot to overthrow or change religious thought. It’s a consideration, another way of looking at the human aspect of Jesus, as opposed to the divine part," described Dafoe.
Dafoe admitted that much of the interpretation—and the subsequent backlash—rested on the vision of director Martin Scorsese. He added that the film's criticism took on antisemitic overtones in America "because there was an association that this religious right talked about. ‘The evil people in Hollywood.’"
While The Last Temptation of Christ's release set off great effects on Willem Dafoe's career once, he is now booked and busy with a lineup of several movies. He last appeared on the big screen in Robert Eggers' gothic tale Nosferatu.
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