Hi Kate! I like Willem Dafoe as Jesus Christ in Martin Scorsese's THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST for three major reasons:
(1) I like Scorsese even if some of his films are variations of previous movies (MEAN STREETS, GOODFELLAS, etc.) and even if he occasionally missteps (CAPE FEAR). (2) I read Nikos Kazantzakis THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST and was fascinated by Jesus Christ's duality. (3) I thought the film perfectly cast Dafoe as a flawed God, Barbara Hershey as Mary Magdalene and, most poignantly Harvey Keitel as Judas (remember that scene towards the end when Judas let out this goose-bump inducing "You betrayed me!" to Jesus?!). But on the subject of Dafoe, I thought he looked quite atypical by Hollywood standards but his appearances in films like THE ENGLISH PATIENT and SHADOW OF A VAMPIRE proved that he is "scarily" good as foils to protagonists (although I can't quite understand why he and Julianne Moore appeared in Madonna's film BODY OF EVIDENCE). Joseph in Manila (liked Scorsese's "Life Lessons" in NEW YORK STORIES) > he is very good, otherwise he wouldn't be so scary...but i could never > believe him as a credible jesus in Last Temptation of Christ... > >>>Wilam Defoe is seriously one of my favorite actors, and the first >>> person
