Actor and director Mel Gibson made an appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience” where he provided an update on the status of his sequel to the super successful “Passion of the Christ” from 2004, stating that filming could start in 2026. Gibson is a faithful Catholic, though he is known as a “sedevacantist,” which means he does not believe the current pope is legitimate and that there hasn’t been a legitimate pope in quite some time.
Gibson, 69, shared his plans for the sequel during the interview with Rogan, also going on to discuss various aspects of the Catholic faith. Rogan isn’t a believer so it’s awesome that the last couple of guests on the program have been committed Christians who have shared the gospel with him. Just imagine a powerful voice like Rogan’s preaching Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection to save sinners from the wrath of God? What a miracle that would be.
According to The Daily Wire, Gibson said he hopes to start shooting next year, but said there’s a lot that’s required for the movie as it’s “an acid trip.” He then said that he’s “never read anything like” the script, which he has been working on along side “Braveheart” scribe Randall Wallace for over six years.
He also revealed the title of the film is “The Resurrection of the Christ.”
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“My brother and I and Randall all sort of congregated on this. So there’s some good heads put together, but there’s some crazy stuff,” Gibson explained during the program. “And I think in order to really tell the story properly you have to 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.”
The filmmaker confirmed that he plans to have actor Jim Caviezel reprise his role as Jesus. Gibson also said he might use “a few techniques” to de-age Caviezel since more than two decades have passed since the first film’s release, and the events will take place three days after “The Passion” ends, when Jesus rose from the dead following his crucifixion. Gibson said the entire project was “very ambitious” and that the story will encompass “the fall of the angels to the death of the last apostle.”
“It’s about finding the way in that’s not cheesy or obvious,” he told Rogan, going on to add, “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. 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 really super ambitious. But I’ll take a crack at it because that’s what you got to do, right, walk up to the plate, right?”
“The Passion of the Christ” earned $600 million at the box office, bringing in major bank as the budget for the film was only $30 million.