“It’s that good.”
Actor Jim Caviezel, who portrayed Jesus in the blockbuster film “The Passion of the Christ,” says the sequel to the 2004 movie will be the “biggest film in history.”
The star will reprise his role as Jesus in the planned film, which will chronicle the biblical story of the Savior’s resurrection. Caviezel told USA Today there are moments in the Mel Gibson-directed movie that will “shock the audience,” calling the project “great.”
“I won’t tell you how [Gibson’s] going to go about it,” he 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.”
In the meantime, Caviezel will portray Luke alongside actor James Faulkner, who will play Paul, in the highly anticipated Affirm Films movie “Paul, Apostle of Christ.”
The movie follows Paul’s final days when he was held as a Roman prisoner for preaching the gospel. He was awaiting execution orders from Emperor Nero and was allowed visits from Luke, his doctor, friend, and fellow Christian.
Despite the wild success of “The Passion of the Christ” — it raked in more than $611 million worldwide on a $30 million budget and earned three Academy Award nominations — Caviezel told Polish film critic Lukasz Adamski in 2017 that he was snubbed in Hollywood for playing Jesus:
“All of the sudden, I stopped being one of five most popular actors in the studio and I haven’t done anything wrong. I just played Jesus. Was I personally touched by this rejection? Well, everyone has their cross to bear. The world changes in the particular direction but after all, I will not be in this world forever. Neither will the producers from Hollywood. At some point, everyone will have to answer for what they have done.”
His struggles in Tinseltown, though, never knocked Caviezel’s faith. He said he’s “never forgotten that the name of Jesus is above all else.”
In September, Affirm Films Executive Vice President Rich Peluso said in a statement that, aside from Jesus, “no one played a more central role in the growth of the early church than the Apostle Paul.”
“He wrote a vast swath of the New Testament and traveled more than 10,000 miles by foot to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” he continued. “This gripping film dives deep into the final months before Paul’s execution under Nero as he reconciles his faith with his past persecution of the church.”
“Paul, Apostle of Christ” premieres March 28.
