The Last Temptation of Christ (film)

"The feeling begins. Very tender, very loving. Then the pain starts. Claws slip underneath the skin and tear their way up. Just before they reach my eyes, they dig in. And I remember. First I fasted for three months. I even whipped myself before I went to sleep. At first it worked. Then the pain came back. And the voices. They call me by name. Jesus."

"God loves me. I know he loves me. I want him to stop! I make crosses so he'll hate me so he'll find another! I want to crucify every one of his messiahs."

"You think God belongs only to you? He doesn't. God is an immortal spirit who belongs to everybody, to the whole world. You think you're special? God is not an Israelite."

"Today and tomorrow I cast out demons and work cures. On the third day, I will be perfected."

"If I was a woodcutter, I'd cut. If I was a fire, I'd burn. But I'm a heart and I love. That's the only thing I can do."

"In the desert, the baptist warned us, God is coming. Well, I'm telling you it's too late! He's already here. I'm here! And I'm going to baptize everybody... with fire!"

"[drawing a circle in the earth while he speaks to God] I'm not going to leave this circle, I'm not going to leave until you speak to me. No signs, no pain, just speak to me in human words. Whatever path you want, I'll take. Love, or the axe, or anything else. Now if you want me to stay here and die, I'll do that too, but you have to tell me."

"[stares at the heavens] Father, will you listen to me? Are you still there? Will you listen to a selfish, unfaithful son? I fought you when you called, I resisted! I thought of no more. I didn't want to be your son! Can you forgive me? I didn't fight hard enough. Father, give me Your hand. I want to bring salvation! Father, take me back! Make a feast! Welcome me home! I want to be Your son! I want to pay the price! I want to be crucified and rise again! I want to be the Messiah!"

"[to Jesus in the World without the Crucifixion] You see, you don't know how much people need God. You don't know how happy He can make them. He can make them happy to do anything. Make them happy to die, and they'll die, all for the sake of Christ. Jesus Christ. Jesus of Nazareth. The Son of God. The Messiah. Not you. Not for your sake. You know, I'm glad I met you. Because now I can forget all about you. My Jesus is much more important and much more powerful. Thank you, it's a good thing I met you."

"In Last Temptation, I'm playing a Jesus, not the Jesus. If I'm thinking I'm playing the Jesus, I don't know where to begin."

"If in secular Europe, the pope speaks out against the Scorsese film on Jesus' temptations, without even trying to pressure governments to ban it, the European secularist press, as if to pre-empt any suggestion of a ban, makes it quite clear that there can be no question of anyhow restricting the public's access to the film. If people don't want to see it, let them not go see it. That is their freedom, like it is other people's freedom to go see it, unimpeded by papal or governmental bans... In Europe, we have come to protect our constitutional freedoms, and hardly any bigot will even think of either seriously campaigning for a ban or using violence to punish people who show interest in the material to which he objects. All right, there was a bomb attack on a movie theater showing the Temptation film. But the culprit was simply caught and put in jail. Nobody has suggested that we should ban the film in order to avert violence. If at all there is a threat of violence, then there are no two opinions about the duty of the state to uphold the constitutional freedoms, and to prevent terror-mongers from dictating who can see what."

"Willem Dafoe - Jesus"

"Harvey Keitel - Judas Iscariot"

"Steve Shill - Centurion"

"Verna Bloom - Mary, mother of Jesus (final film role)"

"Barbara Hershey - Mary Magdalene"

"Roberts Blossom - Aged Master"

"Barry Miller - Jerobeam"

"Gary Basaraba - Andrew"

"Irvin Kershner - Zebedee"

"Victor Argo - Peter"

"Paul Herman - Philip"

"John Lurie - James"

"Leo Burmester - Nathaniel"

"Andre Gregory - John the Baptist"

"Alan Rosenberg - Thomas"

"Nehemiah Persoff - Rabbi"

"Harry Dean Stanton - Saul/Paul of Tarsus"

"Peter Berling - Beggar"

"David Bowie - Pontius Pilate"

"Leo Marks - Voice of Satan"