What was the name of David Bowie's character in the 1988 film The Last Temptation of Christ? The answer is Pontius Pilate.
Bowie played Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who questions Jesus in Martin Scorsese's 1988 religious drama. The film stars Willem Dafoe as Jesus, Harvey Keitel as Judas Iscariot and Barbara Hershey as Mary Magdalene.
The movie adapts Nikos Kazantzakis's controversial novel and presents a fictional, highly imaginative exploration of Jesus's spiritual and human struggles. It is not intended as a literal retelling of the Gospels, a point emphasized by the film's opening disclaimer. Bowie appears in a relatively brief but memorable sequence as Pilate, bringing a cool, formal presence to the interrogation.
The role is sometimes confused with Bowie's better-known film characters, such as Jareth the Goblin King in Labyrinth or Thomas Jerome Newton in The Man Who Fell to Earth. It is also easy to mistake Bowie for one of the film's central religious figures, but he played neither Jesus nor Judas. The film was released internationally in 1988 and became one of Bowie's notable acting appearances.