Mel Gibson is in Europe scouting locations for a sequel to his 2004 biblical blockbuster “The Passion of the Christ” — which could mean that the film’s long-gestating followup is actually going to get made.
Earlier this week Gibson reportedly toured Malta with a production team and subsequently arrived in the Southern Italian region of Puglia where he visited various rural locations, including the ancient towns of Ginosa, Gravina Laterza and Altamura, Puglia Film Commission director Antonio Parente said.
“All we can confirm is they were scouting locations recently,” Gibson’s publicist, Alan Nierob, told Variety in an email, adding that there is “not a lot to discuss at this early stage.”
Nierob also specified that any casting details of the “Passion of the Christ” sequel, titled “Passion of the Christ: Resurrection,” are premature.
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Gibson has reportedly been working for years on the sequel’s script with “Braveheart” screenwriter Randall Wallace, who in a video interview with ORMI Media in April said the screenplay was completed, and that Jim Caviezel was going to come back to star as Jesus.
Gibson, in a 2022 interview with the National Catholic Register, said “Resurrection” is “not a linear narrative,” adding that “you have to juxtapose the central event that I’m trying to tell with everything else around it in the future, in the past, and in other realms, and that’s kind of getting a little sci-fi out there.”
“The Passion of the Christ,” Gibson’s take on Jesus’ final days on earth, became the largest-grossing independent film of all time, grossing nearly $612 million worldwide. The film was considered anti-Semitic due to its implication that Jewish leaders were to blame for Jesus’ death. But controversy fueled interest as churches bought out entire theaters for their congregants.
Mel Gibson’s latest film as a director, suspense thriller “Flight Risk,” toplining Mark Wahlberg, will be released Stateside by Lionsgate on Jan. 24.
