Jim Caviezel on ‘Passion of the Christ’ sequel: 'It’s going to be the biggest film in world history'
“The Passion of the Christ” star Jim Caviezel recently shared new details about the highly anticipated sequel of the blockbuster hit.
On Thursday, Caviezel told Breitbart News that he received a new draft of the next installment of “The Passion of the Christ."
“Mel Gibson just sent me the third picture, the third draft. It’s coming,” he said on the latest edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow.
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Caviezel, who portrayed Jesus in 2004 for the film, went on to share the sequel's film title.
“It’s called ‘The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection.’ It’s going to be the biggest film in world history,” he declared.
Listen to Caviezel share his Christian faith, his views on abortion and more on "Edifi With Billy Hallowell," the best Christian podcast for faith news
Despite its lack of industry support, the first film earned a staggering $612 million worldwide with a production budget of just $30 million.
Marlow asked the Washington native if he encountered politically-driven blacklisting following his portrayal in “The Passion of the Christ.”
“I had no choice. I had to defend it. I had to fight to survive. The film exploded. It was off the charts,” Caviezel responded. “You’d think, ‘Oh, you’re going to work a lot.’ No, I didn’t. I was no longer on the studio list. That was gone. … Because of what I do as an actor — that’s my skill — it was given to me from God. I didn’t give it to myself, but it’s something in which I have a great range.”
Caviezel went on to say that he held to his convictions because he believed his “faith was much bigger than the industry and Hollywood, and bigger than the Republican or Democratic Party or any of that.”
The actor was on the radio program to discuss his new film, Infidel, another faith-filled film about an American Christian who's kidnapped in Cairo, Egypt, and imprisoned in Iran under false spying charges.
Caviezel and Gibson haven't revealed any other details about the sequel, but in the past the “Persons’ of Interest” actor revealed minor details about the project following one of his conversations with Gibson.
"I won't tell you how he's going to go about it," Caviezel told USA Today in 2018. ... "But I'll tell you this much, the film he's going to do is going to be the biggest film in history. It's that good," the 51-year-old devoted Catholic echoed.
Gibson revealed the subject of the sequel in 2016, telling Stephen Colbert of "The Late Show" that the film might feature characters visiting other realms.
"It's not just some chronological telling of just that event. That could be boring, and you think, 'Oh, we read that,'" Gibson told Colbert of the sequel. "But what are the other things around it that happened?"
Gibson, teamed up with screenwriter Randall Wallace to work on "Resurrection," and said the film will take years to make because "it's a big subject."
Different from "Passion," which focused on the graphic crucifixion of Jesus Christ, "Resurrection" is expected to explore the three days between His death and resurrection.
"It's more than a single event, it's an amazing event," the director added. "And to underpin that with the things around it is really the story, to enlighten what that means."
“The Passion of the Christ” was the first R-rated film ever in North America to gross so much. Although it received three Oscar nominations at the 77th Academy Awards, it didn't win any awards.
