Mel Gibson has found himself in hot water after he recast the role of Jesus Christ in the highly anticipated sequel to his classic 2004 movie The Passion of the Christ.
Indeed, Jim Caviezel will not be reprising the role of Jesus Christ in The Resurrection of the Christ, much to the dismay of fans.
Passion Of The Christ Roles Recast
Gibson, 69, finally began filming The Resurrection of the Christ last week. The movie is set to be split into two parts, both of which are scheduled to be released in 2027.
For over 20 years, fans had assumed that Caviezel, 57, would be reprising the role of Jesus. Unfortunately, Variety has confirmed that Caviezel has been replaced by the Finnish actor Jaakko Ohtonen, 36, in the role of Jesus.
This isn’t the only casting change. In The Passion of the Christ, the role of Mary Magdalene was played by Monica Bellucci, 61. In the sequel, that role will be played by the Cuban actress Mariela Garriga, 36.
As for the role of Jesus’ mother Mary, which was played by Maia Morgenstern, 63, in the original film, it will now be portrayed by the Polish-Italian actress Kasia Smutniak, 46.
Outraged Fans Fire Back
The Passion of the Christ follows the final twelve hours of Jesus Christ’s life. The sequel takes place three days later, when Jesus was resurrected. This tight timeframe left Gibson feeling like he had no choice but to recast these roles, as Caviezel and his co-stars have aged over 20 years since making the original film.
“It made sense to recast the whole film,” said a source close to the production. “They would have had to do all this CGI stuff, all this digital stuff — de-aging and all that — that would have been very costly.”
Unfortunately for Gibson, however, fans don’t feel the same way. Since this recasting was announced, social media has exploded with outrage over this decision, as fans were looking forward to seeing Caviezel play Jesus once again.
“Recasting Jesus is blasphemous work,” one livid fan commented. Another added, “Caveziel must be devastated. He’s been talking about this film since 2012.”
“I thought they were gonna use Jim And use CGI to make him look younger,” a third user wrote. A fourth commented, “Should’ve kept Jim Caviezel. Wonder why he left the film. Maybe script was too intense for him? Or too demanding? Idk, but Caviezel returning would made the film more powerful since you would’ve followed him from the first film.”
Caviezel Sounds Off
Some have speculated that Gibson and Caviezel, who is a devout Roman Catholic, had a “falling out” that led to this decision.
“What happened? What changed? Wasn’t Jim hyping up this movie since forever?” yet another fan questioned.
Indeed, Caviezel had indicated as recently as April that he would be part of the sequel.
“I want to enjoy this one more than I did the other one, I got too far over my skis,” Caviezel said while appearing on the Arroyo Grande With Raymond Arroyo podcast. “On the other one, I was concerned that it was not in Aramaic, I said, ‘We’re not doing this.’ Well, that was a different world. But trust, I really do trust what [Gibson] adds.”
Caviezel went on to explain why he was building a mental journal of what it was like to play Jesus.
“So, really experiencing the resurrection, because you know you’re not going to get this many shots,” he continued. “You know, I’m never going to get another shot at this again. And I remember somebody telling me you should take a journal. I said, my journal is right here. I remember it all, but I wish I had, you know, documented some of the stuff that I went through.”
At the time of this writing, Caviezel has yet to break his silence about this recasting. We certainly can’t imagine that he’s very excited about it.
Part one of The Resurrection of the Christ is due to be released on Good Friday, March 26, 2027. It is set to be followed by the second part 40 days later on Ascension Day, May 6, 2027. While it’s sad that these roles have been recast, we still can’t wait to see how Gibson’s sequel turns out!