Willem Dafoe has described playing Jesus Christ in Martin Scorsese’s 1988 film *The Last Temptation of Christ* as the hardest role of his career. He said the challenge was not simply the character’s religious significance, but portraying Jesus as a human being experiencing doubt, fear and temptation.

The film adapted Nikos Kazantzakis’s novel and sparked major controversy for its unorthodox depiction of Christ, including imagined temptations of an ordinary life. Dafoe later said the role required intense preparation and a willingness to approach a figure many people regard as sacred without treating him as a distant symbol.