Jim Caviezel Returns to Studio Movies with Sony's ‘Ghost Soldier' — His First Hollywood Movie Since 2014

Jim Caviezel is making major studio movies again?

Caviezel — whose profile rose sharply with "Sound of Freedom," which he promoted heavily on conservative media as a "rejection of what they are doing to our Christian culture right now" — hasn't appeared in a major studio release since "When the Game Stands Tall" (2014), a TriStar title, and before that "Deja Vu" (2006) for Touchstone and “Escape Plan” (2013). That changes in November, when Sony opens the action film "Ghost Soldier" with Caviezel in the lead.

Everything in between came through independent or faith-based distributors: "Paul, Apostle of Christ" (Affirm), "Infidel," "Sweetwater" and "Sound of Freedom" (Angel Studios).

Now he's landed the lead in Sony Pictures' action-thriller "Ghost Soldier," which just staked out a Tuesday, November 11 release date, timed to the Veterans Day holiday weekend. Caviezel plays Henry "Fitz" Fitzgerald, a solitary veteran with a murky past living quietly off the grid in his hometown. When a ruthless foreign corporation moves in, intent on seizing his land and his neighbors' for a massive payday, Fitz wages a one-man war against corporate greed.

The film will face off against Amazon/MGM Studios' heist picture "How to Rob a Bank," Bleecker Street's "Victorian Psycho," and Ti West's "Ebenezer," starring Johnny Depp as Scrooge. Sony is obviously leaning for conservative-leaning audiences to show up for “Ghost Soldier,” and they just might, Caviezel is well known and respected with that demo.

Caviezel also has "Dark Horse," an independently produced Jair Bolsonaro biopic — yes, he plays the former Brazilian president. It opened in Brazil this past June but has no US distribution. I doubt we’ll get to see it in theaters here.

Caviezel had become political kryptonite in Tinseltown, yet he still managed to star in one of the decade's biggest surprises. "Sound of Freedom" was independently financed and released through Angel Studios, the crowdfunding-backed faith-based distributor, and grossed $184M domestically in summer 2023.

Otherwise, Caviezel’s best-known work dates to the late '90s and early aughts: "The Thin Red Line," "Frequency," "The Count of Monte Cristo," and "The Passion of the Christ." He was set to return for the "Passion" sequel, but Mel Gibson couldn't find a workable way to de-age him, and the role was recast.