Martin Scorsese to act in Julian Schnabel’s new movie, ‘In the Hands of Dante’
The acclaimed American filmmaker Martin Scorsese will take a small acting role in Julian Schnabel’s upcoming crime film In the Hands of Dante.
The acclaimed director is in good company in the movie, featuring in a cast that also includes Jason Momoa, Gal Gadot, Oscar Isaac, Gerard Butler and his collaborator Al Pacino, with the pair working together during the making of 2019’s The Irishman.
Based on the book of the same name by Nick Tosches, the film tells the story of Alighieri’s poem, The Divine Comedy, which makes its way into the hands of a mob boss in New York City.
As revealed by Variety, Scorsese will play a small role in the forthcoming movie, appearing as an elderly man who influences the Italian poet Dante Alighieri while the latter is writing The Divine Comedy. The acting role won’t be a career first for Scorsese, who previously appeared in Akira Kurosawa’s surreal 1990 film Dreams, but it will be one of his more major appearances on the silver screen.
Speaking to the publication, Schnabel stated, “He is extraordinary in the film,” in reference to Scorsese, adding that it’s difficult to take your eyes off him in “a brilliant, important role”.
Describing the character Scorsese is due to play, Schnabel added: “I don’t know if he’s a scholar, but he’s somebody who knows things…It’s sort of before the poem is finished. So this guy has been an influence on Dante, and he’s probably the only one whose review he cared about”.
Scorsese will soon receive the honourary Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for his contributions to cinema and is hoping that his most recent American odyssey, Killers of the Flower Moon, will receive some plaudits at the forthcoming 96th Academy Awards.
Take a look at the trailer for Scorsese’s latest movie below.
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