Francesca Scorsese Confronts Faith, Nepotism and Fox Nation With The Saints

Francesca Scorsese is using her first major directing job to talk frankly about faith, family connections and working inside a conservative media ecosystem. The 26-year-old filmmaker has helmed an episode of Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints for Fox Nation, and in a recent column she spoke about drifting away from the Catholic Church even as she helps her father dramatize the lives of saints.

The series, executive produced and narrated by Martin Scorsese, returns this month with new docudrama portraits of figures such as St. Patrick and St. Peter. Francesca’s episode focuses on Carlo Acutis, the Italian teenager dubbed “God’s Influencer” who catalogued Eucharistic miracles online before dying of leukemia in 2006 and being canonized this year. She spent a month in Rome shooting the episode and has said Acutis’ use of early websites and digital tools drew her in because he “used it as a way for good and to inspire.”

Francesca links that interest to a childhood steeped in religion. She told an audience at a New York premiere that she was baptized, confirmed and made her First Communion, and remembers praying every night while her father read children’s Bible editions as bedtime stories. As she grew older, she began asking questions he could not easily answer and, as she put it, gradually pulled away from regular church life, even while retaining a fascination with stories of faith.

She has also described a clear line she would not cross on The Saints. Producers offered her the option to film Acutis’ preserved body, which lies in a glass tomb in Assisi. Francesca recalled turning that down, saying the idea made her uncomfortable and that she preferred to emphasize his relationships and legacy rather than linger on his remains.

Questions about nepotism and platform politics have followed the project. In an interview about the show, Francesca said candidly, “I got this, obviously, because my dad was overseeing everything as the executive producer,” adding that she feels honored and wants the work to justify the chance. She has called directing for Fox Nation “a little intimidating,” in part because she was effectively turning in homework to one of cinema’s most scrutinized directors, who later praised the “meditative” pacing and framing of her episode.

Her decision to direct for Fox Nation, the streaming arm of Fox News Media, has sparked debate among viewers who associate the brand with hard-right politics. Francesca has said she shares her father’s political leanings and had some hesitation about the platform, but argued that Fox was the only buyer willing to finance an ambitious saint anthology and that she prefers audiences judge the work itself. Fox Nation, for its part, promotes The Saints as a record-setting hit and a signature example of its push into prestige-style original programming.