Mel Gibson's 2004 religious drama The Passion of the Christ remains one of the highest grossing films of all time, amassing $611 million worldwide, and making it one of the only films on the global Top 150 chart to not either BE a sequel, or to spawn a sequel. Well, that all might change, as Gibson has begin talking about the possibility of a follow up to The Passion of the Christ, and the direction with which he'd like to go. Gibson, who later this year returns to the director's chair for Hacksaw Ridge, says of his proposed Passion sequel:
It's not The Passion 2. It's called The Resurrection. 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.
The Randall Wallace who Mel Gibson references is also the Oscar-nominated screenwriter on Gibson's majestic and epic Braveheart, so the two men have a long-standing collaborative history that has produced memorable cinema. On his own, Wallace -- as Mel points out -- helmed The Man In The Iron Mask, We Were Soldiers, Secretariat and Heaven Is For Real, so The Resurrection would be in his wheelhouse.
The thing that was holding Mel Gibson back, at least as far as I can tell, is that he has been in personal, professional and PR limbo because of scandalous behavior he displayed in front of police officers (on one occasion) and with his ex-wife (during another embarrassing incident). Gibson had to go away for a while, but this year, he has worked his way back. He starred in the gritty genre Blood Father, and later this year, he'll tip toe into the Awards Race with Hacksaw Ridge, starring Andrew Garfield as a pacifist avoiding combat during the Battle of Okinawa.
Here's Mel Gibson's complete comments, delivered during an interview with Pastor Greg Laurie during The Harvest Crusade. Listen to the support he gets from this live crowd:
Is it time for The Passion of the Christ 2, or The Resurrection? And if Mel Gibson does it, what kind of movie would you like him to deliver? Weigh in below with your thoughts.
