Mel Gibson and Jim Cavizer on the set of The Passion of the Christ
Director Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" is not only his highest-grossing film, but also holds the record for the highest grossing R-rated film in North America. Recently, the film's lead actor Jim Caviezer revealed in an interview with foreign media Breitbart News that Mel Gibson plans to shoot a sequel to the film, called "The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection".
"I've read the third script he gave me, and it's going to be the biggest film in film history." Cavize said so in an interview. The Passion of the Christ, released in 2004, tells the story of Jesus' torture and crucifixion after being betrayed by traitors, showing the last 12 hours of his life.
Due to the large number of bloody and violent scenes, the film was set as R-rated when it was released in North America, but it earned $370 million in North American box office and $612 million worldwide. In North America, the film is still the champion of R-rated film history, and "Deadpool", "American Sniper" and "Joker" are its defeats. Globally, the film ranked seventh at the R-rated box office.
In the interview, Cavizer even compared Jesus to the superhero, suggesting that the film will have various miracle shots, which can be compared with blockbusters such as "The Ten Commandments" and "Ben Hur".
Filming a film of Jesus' resurrection could be controversial because Catholics (as Mel Gibson is) believe that Jesus preached in hell three days before his resurrection, but evangelical Christians do not believe that Jesus ever met Satan.
If Mel Gibson insisted on filming these elements, the protests sparked after the release were expected to surpass Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ.
Martin's film boldly modifies the character and behavior of Jesus, Judas and other characters, giving Jesus more human characteristics, making him as contradictory, confused and tempted by mistakes as ordinary people. However, religious figures identified it as a blasphemy, which caused an uproar, and the film was still banned in several European countries.
Stills from The Last Temptation of Christ