Jesus. Martin Scorsese Is Doing a Show on Fox Nation
Not feeling conflicted enough today? Martin Scorsese is making and hosting a show on Fox News Channel’s streaming service Fox Nation.
The series is an eight-part docudrama slated for November 2024. May we present: “Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints.”
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Each hour-long episode will explore “the remarkable stories of eight men and women who risked everything to embody humanity’s most noble and complex trait — faith,” in Fox Nation’s words. Them’s the saints.
“Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints” was developed by Scorsese for Lionsgate Alternative Television. It was created by Matti Leshem. The docuseries is written by the frequent Scorsese collaborator Kent Jones; it will be directed by Elizabeth Chomko.
Scorsese and Leshem executive produce, as do Julie Yorn, Rick Yorn, Christopher Donnelly, Yoshi Stone, Craig Piligian, David Ellender, and Matt Loze. In addition to Lionsgate, the series was produced by Sikelia Productions, Weimaraner Republic Pictures, LBI Entertainment, and Halcyon Studios.
“Having the greatest storyteller tell some of the greatest stories of all time is exactly the kind of exclusive content that is driving Fox Nation’s success,” Jason Klarman, the Fox News Media chief digital and marketing officer, said in a statement. “It’s an honor to welcome the world-renowned Martin Scorsese to the Fox Nation platform.”
Scorsese added: “I’ve lived with the stories of the saints for most of my life, thinking about their words and actions, imagining the worlds they inhabited, the choices they faced, the examples they set. These are stories of eight very different men and women, each of them living through vastly different periods of history and struggling to follow the way of love revealed to them and to us by Jesus’ words in the gospels. I’m so excited that this project is underway, and that I’m working with so many trusted and talented collaborators.”
The first four episodes of “Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints” will premiere on Sunday, November 16, 2024, on Fox Nation. The “final set” will come out in May 2025, “spanning the Holy season,” per Fox.
In between, Scorsese will cover 2,000 years of history, nearly every continent, and eight saints: Joan of Arc, Francis of Assisi, John the Baptist, Thomas Becket, Mary Magdalene, Moses the Black, Sebastian, and Maximillian Kolbe.
Not into it? Scorsese is also the guy who did “Goodfellas,” “Raging Bull,” “The King of Comedy,” “Taxi Driver,” “Mean Streets,” and “Casino.” Oh, and also movies without Robert De Niro. IndieWire has ranked all of Scorsese’s works up to and including “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Even in this packed paragraph, we still haven’t mentioned our number 1 Scorsese film.
Faith-based films and series are all the rage these days. Angel Studios made a shocking $250 million from its 2023 film “Sound of Freedom.” The same studio recently released “Cabrini,” which is about yet another saint (the first), and was the original production house on Seasons 1-3 of Jesus drama “The Chosen.” (“The Chosen” is now an independent production — Season 4 is debuting in theaters through Fathom Events before heading to various streaming services and The CW.)
In time for this Easter, Fox Nation secured the rights to “The Passion of the Christ” and Seasons 1-3 of “The Chosen.” Hell, even Netflix is getting in on the heavenly action: Its three-part half-scripted/half-documentary series, “Testament: The Story of Moses,” premiered today. IndieWire’s TV critic Ben Travers didn’t really dig it; he gave the series a “C” and called it “as dry as the desert.”
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