Willem Dafoe reflects on his 'controversial' film

Willem Dafoe starred in The Last Temptation of Christ, which sparked much controversy.

In an interview with The Louis Theroux Podcast, the Spider-Man star said the fallout of playing the lead actor in 1988 was so huge that he was uncast from a film.

“It’s just strange, in a world of slasher films and ****, that people got so upset about this, because it’s based on a novel and, broadly speaking, they’re changing the classic story a little bit to consider the character of Jesus in a different way, that’s all,” he said.

“It’s not this plot to overthrow or change religious thought. It’s a consideration, another way of looking at the human aspect of Jesus, as opposed to the divine part,” the 69-year-old added.

The Poor Things actor also recalled the film's impact on his career. “I mean, down the road there was one project in particular that I was cast in and the studio uncast me because they didn’t like that I was associated with Last Temptation. But I don’t want to do a big, crocodile tears about that because it could have been much worse."

"But I didn’t feel it so much. I think most of the responsibility fell on Martin Scorsese,” the Nosferatu star noted.

“It became a huge antisemitic thing too, because there was an association that this religious right talked about. ‘The evil people in Hollywood.’ So, in America anyway, that was the main fight,” Willem concluded.