Last month, we reported that the sequel to Mel Gibson’s 2004 epic movie The Passion Of The Christ is finally set to begin filming in August. Indeed, the 56 year-old actor Jim Caviezel is preparing to reprise his role of Jesus Christ in the upcoming sequel The Resurrection Of The Christ.
In a new interview, Caviezel is revealing the warning that The Passion Of The Christ director Gibson gave him before he took on the role of Jesus over 20 years ago.
Caviezel Recalls Being Cast To Play Jesus
Caviezel sat down with the Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo on his “Arroyo Grande” podcast last week. There, Caviezel recalled that he initially met with Gibson’s producer Steve McEveety about doing an unrelated surfer movie. However, this didn’t ultimately come together because “the script wasn’t there yet.”
Around forty minutes into this meeting, Gibson himself showed up. That’s when Caviezel’s life changed forever.
“We were talking about surfing movies and everything, and then it pivots into Christ movies, you know, Jesus movies. Well, that’s not a surfing movie. It’s not Jesus on a surfboard. How’s that going to work?” Caviezel recounted.
Caviezel went on to reveal that when he was only 19 years-old, he believes that the voice of God told him to become an actor.
“I went, ‘Oh my God,’ I mean, I’m not blaspheming God, I’m not taking his name in vain,” he said of his fateful meeting with Gibson. “I literally said, ‘Oh my God, this is it,’ and I said, ‘You want me to play Jesus, don’t you?”
When Gibson immediately replied in the affirmative, Caviezel was all in. He told himself that when it came to portraying Jesus, “I’m supposed to do this. I don’t need anybody to tell me to do this.”
Gibson’s Warning For Caviezel
Just two days later, however, Gibson called him to issue a major warning about taking on this holy role. Indeed, Gibson wanted to make sure that Caviezel was aware of the damage playing Jesus could do to his career in Hollywood.
“He goes, ‘You really want to do this?’ He goes, ‘If you do this movie, you may never work in this town again,’ and I went, ‘What?’” Caviezel remembered. “What I wanted to make was what really happened, so I was OK with that.”
Sure enough, Caviezel went through with playing Jesus Christ. And the rest, as they say, is history. The original Passion of the Christ was a huge hit, becoming the fifth-highest-grossing movie of 2004 worldwide. It received Oscar nominations for Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Makeup.
Related: Mel Gibson’s ‘Passion Of The Christ’ Sequel Is One Step Closer Now
The Resurrection OfThe Christ
Now, Caviezel is preparing to reprise his role in The Resurrection Of The Christ. While he admitted that he’s “scared” to take on this role again, he also firmly believes that he wouldn’t be ready to do so if there wasn’t some fear on his end.
Back in January, Gibson described this sequel as being “an acid trip.” He added that he has “never read anything like” the script, which he wrote with his former Braveheart screenwriter Randall Wallace.
“The evangelical community considers The Passion the biggest movie ever out of Hollywood, and they kept telling us that they think a sequel will be even bigger,” Wallace told The Hollywood Reporter back in 2016.
“I always wanted to tell this story,” he continued. “The Passion is the beginning, and there’s a lot more story to tell.”
Resurrection has been in the works for many years. In 2022, Gibson explained that the sequel is “not a linear narrative.”
“I think in order to really tell the story properly you have to really start with the fall of the angels, which means you’re in another place, you’re in another realm,” Gibson added at the time. “You need to go to hell.”
Fans have been clamoring for a sequel to The Passion of The Christ for over 20 years now. We can’t wait to see Caviezel star in The Resurrection of the Christ when it finally comes out!
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