The Priesthood of Cinema

Did Martin Scorsese, John Woo, Michael Moore, M. Night Shyamalan, and Danny Boyle make a deal with the Devil? These directors are a priesthood of cinema, but they almost became priests instead.

Scorsese's path to priesthood is fairly well known having talked openly about it. In the book Martin Scorsese: Interviews, when asked why he decided against it he said, "I couldn't fit in the institution of the church."

While Scorsese expressed regret in failing to become a Catholic priest, he undoubtedly influenced the course of modern cinema. The book Gangster Priest, written about Scorsese says it all in the title. Scorsese's films carry the silent morals a priest's presence can have, but inflict the message with a gangster's style and grit.

Scorsese didn't fully abandon his religious tendencies by forming a fascination as a filmmaker. There is Scorsese's controversial film, "The Last Temptation of Christ" and his film about the Dali Lama, "Kundun".

Author Michael Bliss wrote about director John Woo, Between the Bullets: The Spiritual Cinema of John Woo. Bliss calls John Woo a "religious filmmaker...a romantic Christian idealist who loves guns and explosions...a man of peace who choreographs death and destruction."

In a BBC interview John Woo said his first dream was to be a Christian Minister, later realizing a greater passion for movies. Bliss points out John Woo's cameos in his films are in the form of spiritual advisors, notably as the police chief in "A Better Tomorrow" and as the bartender in "Hardboiled".

Michael Moore is a preachy director who stands upon his pulpit at the box office, waving a Catholic finger at the greed of corporate America and politics. In Moore's intimate documentary "Capitalism: A Love Story", he revealed once wanting to be a catholic priest.

Moore's "Capitalism..." famously makes the claim that Jesus would condemn hedge funds. As possibly the most successful and well known documentary filmmaker, Moore has found a liberal congregation that attends mass at the movies.

It's tough to find a direct quote from M. Night Shyamalan saying he wanted to be a priest, but his films are glaringly religious. In a Sunday Timesinterview with Danny Boyle, he noted that Scorsese, Woo and Shyamalan "were all meant to be priests." Shyamalan's upbringing is steeped in religion from a Catholic Grammar school and Episcopalian High School.

A touch of faith is in all of Shyamalan's films, especially the earlier "Praying with Anger" and "Wide Awake". Though there is tremendous evidence when considering Mel Gibson's faith-battling priest from "Signs" and the religious context of Shyamalan's latest, "Devil".

Danny Boyle's films are often about a test of faith, even if not pointing directly to godly faith. In the aforementioned interview Boyle said, "I was meant to be a priest until 14." Boyle was talked out it by another priest; "whether he was saving me from the priesthood, or the priesthood from me, I don't know."

Boyle sums up the connection these filmmakers have in making the leap from priest to director: "There's something very theatrical about it. It's basically the same job - poncing around, telling people what to think."