Screenwriter Randall Wallace, who has worked with actor and director Mel Gibson on a few of his major movies, including “The Passion of the Christ,” revealed during a recent interview that Gibson’s upcoming two-part movie in regards to the Resurrection emerged from a conversation the 2 had in regards to the Protestant emphasis on Christ conquering death.
“We were having dinner one night, just the 2 of us in Dallas, and I said, ‘You know, the thing we want to do is the Resurrection,'” Wallace said on the “Verité Vision” podcast that aired Tuesday.
“It’s an interesting thing. Catholic friends have said, and I don’t need to over-characterize anyone’s particular practice, but in Catholicism, there’s way more emphasis on the Crucifixion, on the Passion. One Catholic friend of mine said we almost never talk in regards to the Resurrection,” he said.
Wallace, a Baptist, contrasted the vital symbolism of the crucifix in Roman Catholicism, which shows Jesus still on the cross, in comparison with the common Protestant depiction of the cross as empty.
“We have to tell that story,” Wallace remembered telling Gibson as they were promoting their 2016 film “Hacksaw Ridge,” which recounted the lifetime of Desmond Doss, a devout Seventh-day Adventist from Virginia who served as a combat medic in World War II and survived, despite never firing a shot because he was a conscientious objector.
Wallace said Gibson “got really quiet for a moment” when he raised the subject of a movie specializing in the Resurrection.
“Mel is completely good, and I knew he was listening really intently,” he said, adding that he offered to start out working on the screenplay for the film, which he described as tackling “the Mount Everest of all stories.”
Wallace said Gibson told him that he would have a Catholic mass said for Wallace after he floated the concept, and warned that he could be subject to spiritual attack if he decided to write down in regards to the subject.
Both Gibson and actor Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus Christ in the unique film, have claimed that strange spiritual activity took place on set and that Caviezel briefly died after being struck by lightning on the cross.
“Satan’s going to come back after you,” Wallace said, quoting Gibson. “And I said, ‘Mel, Satan has so many Baptists, he doesn’t even care about them.'” Wallace said he as a substitute emphasized to Gibson that he would likely be the primary goal for spiritual attack, and told him he needed to be covered in prayer.
“It’s beautiful when any person desires to have a mass said for you, but he knew that it was the best challenge to essentially tackle,” said Wallace, who went on to elucidate that Gibson realized the importance of approaching the film with the precise spiritual attitude.
“One of the things [Gibson] said to me was, ‘This cannot be for the cash, it might’t be to prove anything to anybody. [With] this, our hearts should be pure,'” Wallace said.
“I knew, at that moment, how dedicated he was, and that this was really going to be a ride,” he added.
“The Resurrection of the Christ,” a two-part film slated for release in 2027 that Gibson co-wrote with Wallace, has been described by Gibson as “an acid trip” that may depict warfare within the spiritual realm. He has claimed he has “never read anything like” the scripts they wrote together. While plot details remain under wraps, the story will concentrate on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and its immediate aftermath.
“It’s going to be unlike anything anyone has ever seen,” Wallace said. “It will probably be a movie that will probably be mind-blowing. It could also be something that’s disturbing and haunting, but it should be unforgettable.”
Filming on the project began in October, with Caviezel being replaced as Jesus by 36-year-old Finnish actor Jaakko Ohtonen.
In addition to Cinecittà’s latest Studio 22 in Rome, filming can be happening in the traditional southern Italian city of Matera and other nearby locations, including Ginosa, Gravina, Laterza and Altamura. The 2004 original film grossed $610 million worldwide and have become considered one of the highest-earning independent movies in cinematic history.
 Screenwriter Randall Wallace, who has worked with actor and director Mel Gibson on a few of his major movies, including "The Passion of...){kind=link}