Director Martin Scorsese has been cast in an upcoming mystery crime film project from director Julian Schnabel titled In the Hands of Dante. Scorsese will play “an elderly sage who influences Dante Alighieri while he is writing The Divine Comedy.”
Scorsese has appeared in several film projects over the years, a lot of times he plays himself. But, he did play Vincent van Gogh in a segment of Akira Kurosawa’s 1990 film Dreams and also provided the voice as the loan shark pufferfish in Shark Tale, which is one of his biggest movie roles.
Schnabel, who is currently editing the movie, said of Scorsese in a statement: “He is extraordinary in the film,” and calls Scorsese’s part “a brilliant, important role” and he added, “You can’t take your eyes off him.”
It is based on the book by Nick Tosches, “which revolves around a handwritten manuscript of Dante Alighieri’s poem The Divine Comedy that is found in the Vatican library. The poem makes its way from a priest to a mob boss in New York City, where it is taken by Tosches after he’s asked to verify its authenticity. Then, like Dante, Tosches embarks on his own journey.”
The film’s story also is said to crisscross between the 14th and 21st centuries, with some characters having parallel lives in different eras. One element of the story centers on Dante while he is writing The Divine Comedy and his influences.
The director previously said while shooting the film talked about Scorsese’s character saying: “I don’t know if he’s a scholar, but he’s somebody who knows things.” It’s explained that “Guido Cavalcanti, an Italian poet who was also a friend and intellectual influence on Dante Alighieri, sends Dante to Venice to see the sage played by Scorsese for advice on his journey in The Divine Comedy.”
Schnabel added: “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. A few times over a period of 20 years, but sort of compressed into a few visits.”
The movie also stars Oscar Isaac, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Gerard Butler and Al Pacino. John Malkovich and Louis Cancelmi also play both a present-day hitman named Lefty and nobleman Guido da Polenta, who was Dante’s benefactor.
Source: Variety
