
Pontius Pilate on Screen
Sinner, Soldier, Superstar
Christopher M. McDonough(Author)
Edinburgh University Press
Published on 21. October 2022
Book
Hardback
296 pages
978-1-4744-4688-4 (ISBN)
Description
Who is Pontius Pilate? Who do the movies say that he is? What is truth?
Pontius Pilate On Screen deals with one of history's most controversial characters. From Monty Python's Life of Brian to Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ, Pontius Pilate is a figure of evidently endless fascination to filmmakers. The Roman prefect is depicted at times as the hapless victim of machinations beyond his control and at other times as the heartless villain of the piece. If in films about the Passion Jesus represents eternal truth, Pilate symbolises the values of the present - whether it is the lingering trauma of the Holocaust, the ongoing struggle over Civil Rights or the polarised politics of the current day - as filmmakers endeavour again and again to portray in Pontius Pilate a compelling counter-figure to Jesus himself.
This book considers portrayals of Pontius Pilate in film from the silent era to the twenty-first century. It discusses over 25 films in detail, including Cecil B. DeMille's King of Kings (1927), Norman Jewison's Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), Martin Scorsese's Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (2004) and Sony's Risen (2016). Based on extensive archival research and original interviews with actors, screenwriters and producers, it offers an extended discussion of the history, tradition and reception of Pontius Pilate.
Pontius Pilate On Screen deals with one of history's most controversial characters. From Monty Python's Life of Brian to Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ, Pontius Pilate is a figure of evidently endless fascination to filmmakers. The Roman prefect is depicted at times as the hapless victim of machinations beyond his control and at other times as the heartless villain of the piece. If in films about the Passion Jesus represents eternal truth, Pilate symbolises the values of the present - whether it is the lingering trauma of the Holocaust, the ongoing struggle over Civil Rights or the polarised politics of the current day - as filmmakers endeavour again and again to portray in Pontius Pilate a compelling counter-figure to Jesus himself.
This book considers portrayals of Pontius Pilate in film from the silent era to the twenty-first century. It discusses over 25 films in detail, including Cecil B. DeMille's King of Kings (1927), Norman Jewison's Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), Martin Scorsese's Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (2004) and Sony's Risen (2016). Based on extensive archival research and original interviews with actors, screenwriters and producers, it offers an extended discussion of the history, tradition and reception of Pontius Pilate.
Reviews / Votes
Certainly the only ancient Roman prefect remembered throughout Western history, Pontius Pilate, the Christmastide/Eastertide "truth" seeker often quoted, maligned, and even "widiculed," fittingly warrants this extremely engaging survey of his notable cinematic representations by Basil Rathbone, Frank Thring, Jean Marais, Rod Steiger, Telly Savalas, Michael Palin, and many, many others. -- Jon Solomon, University of Illinois For anybody interested in either cinematic antiquity or the reception of the biblical figure, McDonough's book will be a worthwhile addition to the corpus of modern research. -- Martin Lindner, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen * BMCR *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
19 black and white illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
603 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4744-4688-4 (9781474446884)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
10/2022
1st Edition
Edinburgh University Press
€46.99
Available for download

E-Book
10/2022
1st Edition
Edinburgh University Press
€46.99
Available for download
Person
Christopher McDonough is Professor of Classics at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee. He is the author of Servius' Commentary on Aeneid Book Four: An Annotated Translation (Bolchazy-Carducci, 2004). He is the author of many articles on a range of topics including Ovid, Latin language and literature, mythology, literature in translation and Classics in cinema.
Content
List of Illustrations.Prologue."Do You Enjoy Being A Symbol, Pontius?" The Trial of Pontius Pilate and Governor Collins
Chapter One.Quod Scripsi Scripsi
Chapter Two.The Silent Pilate?
Chapter Three.The Roman in the Living Room: Pilate on TV in the Early 1950s
Chapter Four.Mrs. Pilate: Claudia Procula and Clare Boothe Luce
Chapter Five.Pilate in CinemaScope, or, Notes on Roman Camp
Chapter Six.Finding Meaning in the Middlebrow: Pilate in the Sixties
Chapter Seven.What Is Truth? Pilate as Seventies Moral Relativist
Chapter Eight.Michael Palin's Accent in Monty Python's Life of Brian, and a Few Others
Chapter Nine.Grand and Not-so-Grand Inquisitors of the Reagan Age
Chapter Ten."We At War": Pilate for the New Millennium
Epilogue.A Time of Hand-washing
Works Cited.Endnotes.
Chapter One.Quod Scripsi Scripsi
Chapter Two.The Silent Pilate?
Chapter Three.The Roman in the Living Room: Pilate on TV in the Early 1950s
Chapter Four.Mrs. Pilate: Claudia Procula and Clare Boothe Luce
Chapter Five.Pilate in CinemaScope, or, Notes on Roman Camp
Chapter Six.Finding Meaning in the Middlebrow: Pilate in the Sixties
Chapter Seven.What Is Truth? Pilate as Seventies Moral Relativist
Chapter Eight.Michael Palin's Accent in Monty Python's Life of Brian, and a Few Others
Chapter Nine.Grand and Not-so-Grand Inquisitors of the Reagan Age
Chapter Ten."We At War": Pilate for the New Millennium
Epilogue.A Time of Hand-washing
Works Cited.Endnotes.