Mel Gibson sequel to ‘The Passion’ to start filming in August after 20-year wait
The Catholic Herald• March 27, 2025
Mel Gibson’s sequel to his hit movieThe Passion of the Christ is set to begin production in Italy this August. The new film, The Resurrection of the Christ, been 20 years in the waiting.
The Passion of the Christ was released in 2004 and garnered a profit of $370 million domestically, becoming both acclaimed and controversial for its graphic portrayal of the sufferings of Christ on His way to Cavalry. Many credit it as the movie that opened the door to faith-based films and media production taking off in Hollywood.
News of the start date for The Resurrection of the Christ came from Manuela Cacciamani, CEO of Rome’s Cinecittà Studios, reports Catholic News Agency (CNA).
“I can confirm that the next film directed by Mel Gibson, produced by Icon Productions, The Resurrection of Christ, will be shot entirely in Cinecittà starting in August and requires many theatres and stage constructions,” the CEO said in an interview with Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.
Gibson previously discussed the film in an interview with legendary podcast host Joe Rogan, saying the film is “very ambitious” and that the story follows “the fall of the angels to the death of the last apostle”, CNA notes.
“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. You need to go to hell. You need to go to Sheol,” he explained.
“It’s about finding the way in that’s not cheesy or too obvious. I think I have ideas about how to do that and how to evoke things and emotions in people from the way you depict it and the way you shoot it. So I’ve been thinking about it for a long time,” said Gibson, who was raised a sedevacantist traditionalist Catholic.
Gibson, since his days as a Hollywood star actor in the likes of the Lethal Weapon series of films, has become somewhat of a Hollywood outsider due to courting controversy through the likes of making anti-Semitic comments during a drunken tirade, while more soberly pushing his Catholic faith into the mainstream as a director, which arguably has proved almost as controversial.
“It’s not going to be easy, and it’s going to require a lot of planning and I’m not wholly sure I can pull it off; to tell you the truth, it’s super ambitious. But I’ll take a crack at it because that’s what you’ve got to do, right, walk up to the plate, right?” Gibson said in the interview with Rogan.
Gibson also shared that he plans to recast Jim Caviezel, who garnered huge plaudits for his portrayal of Jesus in the original film, though noting that the film crew will have to use “a few techniques” on Caviezel, such as CGI de-aging, due to the fact that more than two decades have passed since the first movie was released.
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Photo: US actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson attends a film screening at the DGA Theatre Complex in Los Angeles, USA, 24 September 2024. (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images.)