Passion projects always make me nervous. Labours of love can be such hard work. That much has been proved by Martin Scorsese, who wanted to film The Last Temptation of Christ from the moment he was given Nikos Kazantzakis’s novel on the set of his second feature – the exploitation thriller Boxcar Bertha – in 1972.
With its crucifixion imagery, Boxcar Bertha was as vital as the more personal projects between which it was sandwiched (Who’s That Knocking at My Door? and Mean Streets), in the way it allowed Scorsese to nail his colours to the mast, or to the cross, as a film-maker addressing faith in a turbulent world. But by the time The Last Temptation of Christ materialised, after 16 years of thwarted attempts, it felt as ineffectual as a piece of biblical fan-fiction. Scorsese had worried all the life out of it.
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