Martin Scorsese To Host A Christian Series For Fox News' Streaming Service
Martin Scorsese, the legendary filmmaker behind “Goodfellas,” “Killers of the Flower Moon” and dozens of other critically acclaimed films, is taking on a different kind of project set to air this fall: an eight-part docuseries about Catholic saints for Fox News’ streaming service.
“Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints” is scheduled to run from November through May of next year on Fox Nation, and will feature Scorsese as the host, narrator and executive producer, according to a release from the conservative streamer.
“These are stories of eight very different men and women, each of them living through vastly different periods of history and struggling to follow the way of love revealed to them and to us by Jesus’ words in the gospels,” Scorsese, who identifies as a Catholic and once considered becoming a priest, said in a statement.
“Having the greatest storyteller tell some of the greatest stories of all time is exactly the kind of exclusive content that is driving FOX Nation’s success,” Jason Klarman, Fox News’ chief digital and marketing officer, said.
While Fox doesn’t disclose subscriber numbers for Fox Nation, which costs $5.99 monthly, media critics have surmised that the streaming service has been struggling since the network ousted host Tucker Carlson last year. Shelling out for Scorsese may be an effort to tamp down those suspicions.
Scorsese’s partnership with the conservative media juggernaut may be a bit head-scratching for the liberals who champion his work, but he’s been generally quiet on politics throughout his career ― save for displaying some opposition to the Iraq War at the 2003 Academy Awards.
Fox Nation touts itself as the “Netflix for conservatives,” a moniker borrowed from The New York Times. The streaming service launched in 2018 with a slate of original programming headlined by conservative media figures, including a show from sisters Diamond and Silk that was canceled after the duo promoted COVID-19 misinformation.
Scorsese’s upcoming docuseries appears to follow in the footsteps of “Kelsey Grammer’s Historic Battles for America,” another eight-part series about American military battles hosted by Grammer, a rare Hollywood conservative and vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump.
Saints to be featured in the upcoming series include Joan of Arc, Mary Magdalene and John the Baptist.