History Trivia / TheLastTemptationOfChrist

** A few American cities tried to take legal action against the film in 1988. Pensacola, Florida actually passed a resolution making it illegal to show it in the city. A theater scheduled it anyway. A federal judge nullified the resolution hours before the first screening. A studio representative had actually made a RunForTheBorder (to the next county) with the film reels until getting word that the screening was happening.

* DoingItForTheArt: This was a labour of love for Scorsese, who wanted to make a Jesus film since the 1970s.

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* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: The film was first recommended by actress Barbara Hershey (who eventually played Mary Magdaelene ''19 years later'') to Scorsese during the making of ''Film/BoxcarBertha''. Scorsese had always planned on making a film about Jesus, and initially he even considered adapting Robert Graves's ''King Jesus'' before settling on Nikos Kazantzakis's comparatively ''less'' unusual take. The film actually entered pre-production in TheEighties with Aiden Quinn as Jesus and Music/{{Sting}} in key roles but Paramount pulled of and cancelled the film. Scorsese then made ''Film/AfterHours'' and followed with ''Film/TheColorOfMoney'' whose box-office success he parlayed, successfully, into getting this film off the ground by the end of the decade.
* ThrowItIn: The trippy light show immediately after Jesus's death was a result of the camera breaking and the light ruining the rest of the film, a genuine mistake.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:

** Scorsese had long wanted to make a film about Jesus, and after being introduced to the novel in TheSeventies this became his dream project, but the combined controversial and uncommercial aspects of the film meant that it spent a long time in DevelopmentHell. At various points, Creator/RobertDeNiro, Creator/DavidCarradine, Creator/JohnMalkovich and Creator/JonathanPryce were under discussion to play Jesus. Creator/EricRoberts auditioned and Scorsese liked him, but he took himself out of the running.

** Creator/{{Paramount}}'s treatment of the film turned out to have a major ripple effect on much of modern Hollywood history. How? Paramount halted production mainly because its parent company Gulf+Western got nervous about the project. This became the most blatant example of G+W's ExecutiveMeddling in the studio's business, which had been frustrating the top brass at Paramount for a while. Within a few months, three top executives left Paramount: Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg went to Creator/{{Disney}}, Barry Diller went to Creator/{{Fox}}. All three revitalized their new employers and oversaw important projects. Everything from ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' to ''Film/PulpFiction'' to ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' owe their existence to that 1984 Paramount shakeup, in which ''Last Temptation'' played a huge role.

** Music/DavidBowie was advised to give Pontius Pilate a Scottish accent, since some historians believe Pilate was from Scotland, but he refused.
** Scorsese originally wanted Creator/SteveBuscemi to play James.

* AuthorAppeal: Martin Scorsese cast Leo Marks as the voice of Satan because he was a fan of ''Film/PeepingTom'', which Marks wrote.

* AuthorAppeal: Martin Scorsese cast Leo Marks as the voice of Satan because he was a BigNameFan of ''Film/PeepingTom'', which Marks wrote.

* ThrowItIn: The trippy light show immediately after [[spoiler:Jesus']] death was a result of the camera breaking and the light ruining the rest of the film, a genuine mistake.

* WorkingTitle: A fake one. To lessen the amount of scrutiny on the production, Scorsese filmed it under the title of ''The Passion''. Music/PeterGabriel's score was later released as an album called ''Passion''.

** Paramount greenlighted it in 1983, initially with a $14 million budget (later reduced in half). Locations were secured in Israel, sets were constructed, and the cast was finalized. When Paramount disliked Scorsese's choice for Jesus, Creator/ChristopherWalken, Scorsese gave the role to Aidan Quinn instead. Music/DavidBowie auditioned for Pontius Pilate but Scorsese chose {{Music/Sting}}. But due to religious controversy and financial worries, the studio pulled the plug a month before filming was scheduled to start (they told Scorsese they were backing out two days before Christmas). The costumes and props ended up getting used for ''Film/KingDavid'' instead. When Scorsese finally got to make the film, Quinn didn't return,[[note]]He was burned out after playing the lead in Caleb Deschanel's ''[[Literature/RobinsonCrusoe Crusoe]]''. Ironically, Pauline Kael likened Quinn's performance in that film to "a hippie Christ figure"[[/note]] but most of the rest of the cast (notably Creator/HarveyKeitel, Creator/BarbaraHershey and Creator/HarryDeanStanton) did. When Sting couldn't back out of his music commitments, Bowie took over as Pilate.

** Paramount greenlighted it in 1983, initially with a $14 million budget (later reduced in half). Locations were secured in Israel, sets were constructed, and the cast was finalized. When Paramount disliked Scorsese's choice for Jesus, Creator/ChristopherWalken, Scorsese gave the role to Aidan Quinn instead. Music/DavidBowie auditioned for Pontius Pilate but Scorsese chose {{Music/Sting}}. But due to religious controversy and financial worries, the studio pulled the plug a month before filming was scheduled to start (they told Scorsese they were backing out two days before Christmas). The costumes and props ended up getting used for ''Film/KingDavid'' instead. When Scorsese finally got to make the film, Quinn didn't return[[note]]He was burned out after playing the lead in Caleb Deschanel's ''[[Literature/RobinsonCrusoe Crusoe]]''. Ironically, Pauline Kael likened Quinn's performance in that film to "a hippie Christ figure"[[/note]], but most of the rest of the cast (notably Creator/HarveyKeitel, Barbara Hershey and Creator/HarryDeanStanton) did. When Sting couldn't back out of his music commitments, Bowie took over as Pilate.

** Creator/{{Paramount}}'s treatment of the film turned out to have a major ripple effect on much of modern Hollywood history. How? Paramount halted production mainly because its parent company Gulf+Western got nervous about the project. This became the most blatant example of G+W's ExecutiveMeddling in the studio's business, which had been frustrating the top brass at Paramount for a while. Within a few months, three top executives left Paramount: Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg went to Creator/{{Disney}}, Barry Diller went to Creator/{{Fox}}. All three revitalized their new employers and oversaw important projects. Everything from ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'' to ''Film/PulpFiction'' to ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' owe their existence to that 1984 Paramount shakeup, in which ''Last Temptation'' played a huge role.

* HeAlsoDid: Zebedee is played by director Irvin Kershner, most famous for ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''.

* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: The film was first recommended by actress Barbara Hershey (who eventually played Mary Magdaelene ''19 years later'') to Scorsese during the making of ''Film/BoxcarBertha''. Scorsese had always planned on making a film about Jesus, and initially he even considered adapting Creator/RobertGraves's ''King Jesus'' before settling on Nikos Kazantzakis's comparatively ''less'' unusual take. The film actually entered pre-production in TheEighties with Aiden Quinn as Jesus and Music/{{Sting}} in key roles but Paramount pulled of and cancelled the film. Scorsese then made ''Film/AfterHours'' and followed with ''Film/TheColorOfMoney'' whose box-office success he parlayed, successfully, into getting this film off the ground by the end of the decade.

* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: The film was first recommended by actress Barbara Hershey (who eventually played Mary Magdaelene ''19 years later'') to Scorsese during the making of ''Film/BoxcarBertha''. Scorsese had always planned on making a film about Jesus, and initially he even considered adapting Robert Graves' ''King Jesus'' before settling on Nikos Kazantzakis' unusual take. The film actually entered pre-production in TheEighties with Aiden Quinn as Jesus and Music/{{Sting}} in key roles but Paramount pulled of and cancelled the film. Scorsese then made ''Film/AfterHours'' and followed with ''Film/TheColorOfMoney'' whose box-office success he parlayed, successfully, into getting this film off the ground by the end of the decade.

* CreatorCameo: Martin Scorsese appears briefly as Isaiah, the prophet. He also provides (part of) the voice of Satan.[[note]]Leo Marks provides the dialogue when Satan appears as a pillar of fire and the [[VoiceOfTheLegion dark, demonic voice that echoes beneath is the voice of Scorsese]][[/note]]

** Paramount greenlighted it in 1983, initially with a $14 million budget (later reduced in half). Locations were secured in Israel, sets were constructed, and the cast was finalized. When Paramount disliked Scorsese's choice for Jesus, Creator/ChristopherWalken, Scorsese gave the role to Aidan Quinn instead. Music/DavidBowie auditioned for Pontius Pilate but Scorsese chose {{Music/Sting}}. But due to religious controversy and financial worries, the studio pulled the plug a month before filming was scheduled to start (they told Scorsese they were backing out two days before Christmas). The costumes and props ended up getting used for ''Film/KingDavid'' instead. When Scorsese finally got to make the film, Quinn didn't return[[note]]He was burned out after playing the lead in Caleb Deschanel's ''[[Literature/RobinsonCrusoe Crusoe]]''. Ironically, Pauline Kael likened Quinn's performance in that film to "a hippie Christ figure"[[/note]], but most of the rest of the cast (notably Harvey Keitel, Barbara Hershey and Harry Dean Stanton) did. When Sting couldn't back out of his music commitments, Bowie took over as Pilate.

** Creator/JeffBridges was a big fan of the book and when he heard it was being made into a film he actively sought out the part of Judas, even writing a personal letter to Creator/MartinScorsese. Creator/MelGibson was also considered for Jesus. [[Film/ThePassionOfTheChrist He'd later make his own Christ film]].

** Scorsese had long wanted to make a film about Jesus, and after being introduced to the novel in TheSeventies this became his dream project, but the combined controversial and uncommercial aspects of the film meant that it spent a long time in DevelopmentHell. At various points, Creator/RobertDeNiro, David Carradine, Creator/JohnMalkovich and Creator/JonathanPryce were under discussion to play Jesus. Creator/EricRoberts auditioned and Scorsese liked him, but he took himself out of the running.

* WorkingTitle: A fake one. To lessen the amount of scrutiny on the production, Scorsese filmed it under the title of ''The Passion''. Music/PeterGabriel's score was later released as an album called ''Passion''.