After over 20 years of rumors, promises, and eyebrow-raising interviews, Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection is allegedly starting production this year. Yes, the sequel to the 2004 blockbuster is finally inching closer to reality—or so they say. Set to explore the three days between Jesus’ death and resurrection, this movie is being hyped as a “cosmic,” “vast theological experience” by Gibson himself. Translation: It’s going to be heavy on the creative liberties.
Jim Caviezel, reprising his role as Jesus, has already declared it “the biggest film in the history of the world.” Bold words for a project that’s been stuck in development purgatory for nearly two decades. But with rumors of it releasing this year — which are almost certainly untrue — along with whispers of filming in Malta and hints about a script that ventures deep into heaven, hell and all things supernatural, it seems Resurrection is on many people’s minds.
Let’s take a look back through the rumors to see what we know for sure about the upcoming sequel.
In 2016, Gibson told USA Today that he was trying to find a way to make a movie about the resurrection interesting, which apparently would entail more than three days of everyone waiting for Jesus to show up again. “The Resurrection. Big subject. Oh, my God,” he said. “We’re trying to craft this in a way that’s cinematically compelling and enlightening so that it shines new light, if possible, without creating some weird thing.”
Then in 2018, Gibson sat down with author and Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo where he spoke openly about the idea of a cosmic sequel to The Passion, which would focus far more on the supernatural events taking place in realms beyond our own during the time between Jesus’ bodily death and resurrection. “It’s a tall order,” Gibson admits. “It’s a vast theological experience …it gets pretty wild. It’s an acid trip.”
“How close are you?” Arroyo asks, referencing the alleged existence of the same script Caviezel mentioned, which he believes Gibson is writing with his Braveheart collaborator Randall Wallace.
“It’s the never ending …it keeps revealing itself more and more the further you get into it,” Gibson responds. “Everything from the fall of the angels to, you know, it’s just crazy. It opens up all these channels.”
Around the same time, Gibson appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, where Colbert asked him about the movie. In that conversation, Gibson was similarly noncommittal.
“It’s probably about three years off,” he said. “Because it’s a big subject.”
Colbert pushes a little further, and Gibson again vaguely references the cosmic happenings in Heaven and Hell following Christ’s death. Many strands of Christian tradition hold that following his crucifixion, Jesus descended into Hell for a showdown with the devil, which might be the subject of Gibson’s expansive (and expensive) vision.
“So you would actually do a little Inferno?” Colbert asks, referencing Dante’s poem on the subject, and this is where we get our first real tell as to the state of the script’s development at that time.
“I’m not sure,” Gibson responds. “But it’s worth thinking about isn’t it?”
So, from all this, we can pick up a few clues. As of 2016, Gibson was being asked about a script for a Passion sequel and while he was happy to publicly brainstorm about the scope, things sound emphatically loose. All was quiet on The Passion 2 front for two years until USA Today interviewed Caviezel in 2018, who promised box office history.
“I won’t tell you how [Gibson] is going to go about it,” Caviezel said. “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.”
At the time, Caviezel was playing the Apostle Luke in Paul, Apostle of Christ, possibly creating a bit of confusion in the New Testament Cinematic Universe. That all sounds pretty good, but another telling detail emerges over the course of this interview. Caviezel told USA Today that Gibson had “cracked” the story and even revealed that they had set a tentative date to start shooting the movie. But when USA Today asked Caviezel to tell them what that date is, he declined.
Fast forward to 2020, and Caviezel was back at it, claiming he had just received the “fifth draft” of the script. (Or was it the third? Depends which interview you believe.) He also called it “a masterpiece” and “the biggest film in world history,” which seems to be his go-to line at this point.
Meanwhile, Gibson’s longtime collaborator, Randall Wallace, confirmed they’d been discussing the project—a lot. Wallace described the resurrection as “the Mount Everest of movies” but offered no concrete details. At this point, the script seemed to exist in a Schrödinger’s Cat state: both finished and unfinished, depending on who you asked.
After years of silence, World of Reel reported that the sequel would focus on the 24 hours after Jesus’ death and explore the three days between the crucifixion and resurrection. This means much of the film will be Gibson’s interpretation of spiritual events beyond the biblical narrative.
Then, in September 2024, it was reported that Gibson was scouting filming locations in Malta for the project, now tentatively titled The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection – Part I.
Caviezel also reappeared with new claims, calling the sequel “the biggest film in the history of the world.” Despite his enthusiasm, he offered no timeline for release, joking, “If I told you, I’d have to kill you.”
Which brings us to today. According to recent updates, filming for The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection is expected to begin this year. Still, the project remains shrouded in mystery. While Gibson’s vision promises to be bold and ambitious, its foundation appears to lean heavily on creative liberties, drawing some skepticism from fans and scholars alike. Until we see it, the long-awaited sequel remains one of Hollywood’s greatest theological mysteries.
Title: What’s Going On With the ‘Passion of the Christ’ Sequel?
URL: https://relevantmagazine.com/culture/movies/whats-going-on-with-the-passion-of-the-christ-sequel/
Source: REL ::: RELEVANT
Source URL: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/rss/relevantmagazine.xml
Date: January 7, 2025 at 07:01PM
Feedly Board(s): Religion