Mel Gibsonis looking at having himself a bit of career resurgence after scandal took him out of the limelight several years ago, and it is one of his most notable projects that will be helping to bring him back. It was recently revealed thatPassion of the Christ 2is being worked on. Now,Gibsonhas himself confirmed the news and revealed that the sequel to the 2004 faith-based, R-rated blockbuster will be titledThe Resurrection.
Gibsonappeared at the SoCal Harvest event over the weekend for an interview withPastor Greg Laurie. During the course of the interview, the subject of the sequel, whichMel Gibsonhas been fairly quiet about up to this point, did come up.Gibsondecided to take the opportunity to open up about the movie, revealing the title and discussing some of the challenges in developing it. Here is what he had to say.
“Of course, that is a huge undertaking. And you know, it’s not the ‘Passion 2.’ It’s called ‘TheResurrection.’ Of course, that’s a very big subject and it needs to be looked at because we don’t want to just do a simple rendering of it - you know, read what happened. But in order to read it, experience and explore probably deeper meanings of what it’s about, it’s going to take some doing and Randall Wallace is up to the task. He is also, as well as a brilliant writer, he is a great director. He directed ‘We Were Soldiers’ and ‘Heaven Is For Real’ and stuff. So, he is a good writer and director.”
A few months ago, it wasRandall Wallacewho broke the news aboutThe Resurrectionin an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.WallaceandGibsonhave worked together quite a bit in the past, withWallacewriting the script forBraveheart, which went on to win several Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Here is whatWallacehad to say about the sequel toPassion of the Christduring that interview.
“I always wanted to tell this story.The Passionis the beginning and there’s a lot more story to tell.”
Wallacealso explained that there has been demand from the evangelical community for a sequel for quite some time, and they think a sequel could be an even larger success than the original. That is a tall order.The Passion of the Christwas, up until the release ofDeadpoolthis year, the most successful R-rated movie of all-time, grossing $611 million on a budget of just $30 million. At the moment,The Resurrectiondoesn’t have a studio or financial backers, but withGibsononboard to direct andWallaceback to pen the script, it seems very likely that will change.
Gibsonhas been sidelined for quite some time now, relegated mostly to taking roles in smaller movies, and avoiding directing altogether. There has been some positive buzz around his latest movieHacksaw Ridge, a war movie which featuresAndrew Garfieldand is the first featureGibsonhas directed sinceApocalyptoin 2006. He also recently starred inBlood Father, a return to action movies forGibson, which was well liked and is currently sitting at an 86 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Resurrectionis still in early stages, withWallacestill working on the script, but it is most definitely happening. There is no word on an anticipated release date yet for thePassion of the Christsequel, or ifJim Caviezelwill return to play Jesus, but it seems very likely that he would.Hacksaw Ridgeopens on November 4. You can check out the full interview withGibsonfor yourself below.
