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Willem Dafoe Still Can’t Believe the Immense Backlash to ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’

Willem Dafoe Still Can’t Believe the Immense Backlash to ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’

Thursday, August 21, 2025
Willem Dafoe didn’t expect playing Jesus to spark a national firestorm. But when Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ hit theaters in 1988, it was met with boycotts, theater bans and protests so intense Universal was pressured to pull the film entirely. Speaking at the Sarajevo Film Festival, Dafoe admitted he was “shocked” at…