For 20 years, the assumption was that whenever Mel Gibson got his "Passion of the Christ" sequel off the ground, Jim Caviezel would be front and center. He talked about it constantly, in interview after interview, for two decades. Then last fall, word came out that Finnish actor Jaakko Ohtonen ("The Last Kingdom") was the new Jesus and that the entire main cast had been replaced. Caviezel was out.
Now we have his side of the story.
Sitting down with Raymond Arroyo on the "Arroyo Grande" podcast, Caviezel was asked directly why he isn't back. As it turns out, Jesus has a much smaller role in 'Resurrection':
Well, honestly, I read the first and the second script. And Jesus really is not... he really didn't need me. It's a smaller role.
Then he compared it to "Ghost Soldier," the action movie he chose instead — hitting theaters on Friday:
And you put that against this action film that has great substance, like Monte Cristo, and I was the main dude in it.
Let me get this straight — Jesus only has a supporting role in 'Resurrection'? News to me. Still, that isn't necessarily why Caviezel isn't returning. In fact, despite the limited screen time, he was still ready to come back, but Icon, Gibson's production company, decided to go in an entirely different direction.
Did I want to do it? Of course I did. I was heartbroken. I was supposed to do Jesus in the Resurrection, and you know, that had been talked about for over a decade, two decades. Icon went a different direction.
Last year, a production source told Variety that it "made sense to recast the whole film," because the sequel picks up three days after the crucifixion. Bringing back a 58-year-old Caviezel to play a 33-year-old Jesus would have meant a lot of expensive de-aging. Gibson himself had hinted he had "ways of dealing" with the age gap. In the end, he didn't use them.
"The Passion of the Christ," released in 2004, made over $600 million worldwide. It was the most profitable R-rated movie in history, and that would equal about $1.2 billion in today's money. Gibson isn't just shooting 'Resurrection' without Caviezel; the sequels also won't be in Aramaic and Latin. They'll be in English. What we're looking at here are drastic changes.
Either way, Caviezel is staying in the Bible business. In a bit of casting irony, he plays King Herod in Angel Studios' "Zero A.D.: The Birth of Christ," which opens on Christmas Day. "The Resurrection of the Christ: Part One" arrives on May 6, 2027, and "Part Two" follows on May 25, 2028.
For 20 years, the assumption was that whenever Mel Gibson got his "Passion of the Christ" sequel off the ground, Jim Caviezel would be front and center.