Martin Scorsese stars in Julian Schnabel’s new film: “He’s Extraordinary”

The director of Goodfellas plays the mentor of the poet Dante Alighieri in this adaptation of the novel The Hand of Dante, by Nick Tosches.

Very busy in recent months promoting Killers of the Flower Moonthe TikTok videos he shoots with his daughter Francesca, or even the staging of an advert broadcast during the Super Bowl, Martin Scorsese managed to find the time to star in a film. Variety tells us that the Italian-American filmmaker will soon be starring in the new film by painter and director Julian Schnabel (Basquiat, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly…) titled In the Hand of Dante. This is an adaptation of Dante’s Hand, a novel written by the famous rock critic Nick Tosches. Scorsese will play a Venetian scholar who had a great influence on the poet Dante Alighieri, while the latter was writing The Divine Comedy.

“He’s extraordinary in the film.”Schnabel told Varietyexplaining that Martin Scorsese’s role in the film was “remarkable and important” – that of a wise man from whom Dante comes to ask advice and is “probably the only man whose opinion counts in Dante’s eyes“.

In the Hand of Dantecurrently being edited, will take place in two different eras, in the 14th and 21st centuries, and will tell the consequences of the discovery of a manuscript of The Divine Comedy in the Vatican library. Between Italy and New York, we will come across priests as well as hitmen… At the time of its publication, in 2002, Nick Tosches’ novel featured on its cover a quote from Village Voice describing it as “A Name of the Rose mixed with Soprano”.

During the film’s credits, Scorsese will be surrounded by a all-star cast including Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, Gal Gadot, Gerard Butler, Al Pacino, and even John Malkovich.

Filmed largely in Italy, In the Hand of Dante could according to Variety to be presented in world premiere at the next Venice Film Festival. This is where six years ago, in 2018, Julian Schnabel presented his latest film, At Eternity’s Gate, a portrait of Vincent Van Gogh. Van Gogh, well, that Scorsese has already played in the cinema, under the direction of Akira Kurosawa, in the film Dreamsin 1990.

The director of Taxi Driver does not shy away from occasionally appearing in front of the camera in his films (even recently, in the unforgettable last scene of Killers of the Flower Moon), or those of others, like Quiz Show by Robert Redford or Around midnight by Bertrand Tavernier. While waiting to know if he will accompany In the Hand of Dante on the red carpet of the Mostra, Martin Scorsese will be in Berlin this evening, where he is to receive an honorary Golden Bear.