"Passion" Commercial Spots

Here are three different promotions for "The Passion of the Christ:"

"Passion" Audio Interviews

“The World Over” with Raymond Arroyo, Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN)

Jim Caviezel Interview, 4/25/03


Mel Gibson Interview, 07/03


Mel Gibson Interview, 1/24/04


Jim Caviezel & Maia Morgenstern Interview, 02/04


EWTN “Passion” Premier, 02/25/04


Jim Caviezel Interview, 3/5/04


Focus on the Family with Dr. James Dobson

Mel Gibson on the Passion, 2/24/04


A Visit with Mel Gibson, 2/25/05

Theatrical "Passion" Trailer is out!

"Passion" Filming Takes Toll on Jim Caviezel

By Ivor Davis

NEW YORK — When actor Jim Caviezel (search) was called in for the audition, he was told it was for a surfing movie. "Then Mel Gibson (search) walked into the room and started talking to me about the Gospels," recalls Caviezel. "I said to him, 'You want me to play Jesus?' and he said, 'You've got it.' "

Caviezel leapt at the chance to work with the Oscar-winning director, but in filming the controversial "The Passion of the Christ," (search) which hits screens next week, the actor got more than he bargained for. During the shooting of the film, which depicts the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus, as he's beaten, tortured and crucified, the 35-year-old actor dislocated his shoulder, battled hypothermia, suffered a lung infection and pneumonia, endured eight-hour makeup sessions that left him with severe headaches and skin infections - and was struck by lightning.

But Caviezel - who, like Gibson, is a devout conservative Catholic (search) - insists he never regretted taking the role. "This is the greatest part I've ever had," he says. "I felt like it would be ridiculous not to work with a guy like Mel Gibson."

His toughest task wasn't struggling with his lines in Aramaic and Latin - Gibson finally changed his mind and agreed to subtitle the film - but coping with a ferocious physical toll. "The physical part was horrendous," says Caviezel, who starred in "High Crimes," "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "Frequency." "You are going to work every day with only one eye functioning which gives you headaches. "They've got these thorns they tie on your head as hard as they can, and then there's a cross to carry that weighs 150 pounds. It feels like 600 pounds as the day goes on. "Later they stick you up on a cross in 25-degree temperatures with 30-knot winds."

Most of Caviezel's crippling injuries were the result of planned scenes of torture - but not all. "We were preparing to shoot the Sermon on the Mount and three seconds before, I was hit by lightning. I knew it was going to happen," he says. "People started screaming and they said I had fire on both sides of my head and a light around me. "I had locked eyes with people and it was very eerie because they made a weird sound - the kind of sound people made when they saw the jet plane run into the World Trade Center. "It was a sickening feeling."

Critics have blasted Gibson for writing, directing and personally financing a $25 million film that they say lays blame for Jesus' crucifixion squarely with Jewish leaders. But Caviezel vigorously defends the director. "If he'd said, 'Hey, I'm going to make an anti-Semitic film, would you like to join me?' I wouldn't have been part of a film like that," he says. "That would have been a lie to my faith as well as a mortal sin. What would have been the purpose of making it? I wouldn't have cared who the director was."

He insists the anti-Semitic charges leveled against Gibson are unjustified. "The sad thing about it all is that I'm the most Semitic-looking Jesus in history - Mel didn't want a blue-eyed, blonde Aryan Christ on the cross," he says. "The gal that plays Mary [actress Maia Morgenstern] is Jewish and her parents were in the Holocaust. Talk to her. There are Romanian and Jewish actors in this film who say unequivocally that this film is not anti-Semitic." Romanian actress Morgenstern recently rejected the notion that the film would fuel anti-Semitism, telling the AP: "Mel Gibson is an artist, a director. He never imposed his religious convictions on anyone."

Despite the furor - which he says Gibson warned him may end his career - Caviezel says he has no regrets about taking the role. "I'm not saying that no one is going to do something stupid out there after seeing this film," he concedes. "You can take anything and make something bad of it. In this film, you've got three different types of people: indifferent people, sympathetic people and people who don't give a rat's ass about God and couldn't care less. "That's the way it is in the world."

"You Want Me to Play Jesus?"

He thought he was meeting for a surfing movie. Then Mel Gibson showed up
Newsweek

Feb. 16 issue - James Caviezel, the 35-year-old actor who first came to attention in Terrence Malick's "The Thin Red Line" and starred in "The Count of Monte Cristo," talks to NEWSWEEK's Sean Smith about the agony and the ecstasy of playing the Savior in the controversial "The Passion of the Christ."

SMITH: Before you played this part, did anyone ever tell you that you looked like Jesus?

CAVIEZEL: Not at all. When I was younger someone once said, "You look like Mel Gibson." I told Mel that, and he said, "No you don't. I'm much better looking."[Laughs]

Playing Jesus is obviously a daunting proposition. Why did you say yes to Mel?

I got a phone call telling me that producer Stephen McEveety wanted to meet with me about a surfing movie. I went and met him for lunch, and after a few hours Mel Gibson shows up. He starts talking about what Christ really went through, and I said, "Yeah, I saw the Zeffirelli movie ['Jesus of Nazareth']." He goes, "No, no. I'm talking about the real thing." And then it hit me. I said, "You want me to play Jesus."

So the surfing movie...

Was just a front. They were trying to get a feel for me.

Did he tell you he wanted you to play it in Aramaic?

He was talking about thatAramaic, Hebrew and Latinbut I thought, "He isn't really thinking about doing it." [Laughs] Working with Mel Gibson is a little like waltzing with a hurricane. It's always exciting, and you're never quite sure where it's going to take you. I thought learning the languages was going to be the most difficult part. It turned out the physical pain was the worst because of the cold.

The cold? Didn't you shoot this in Italy?

Yeah, in winter. I was freezing in that loincloth. The physical pain started at 2 in the morning. At the worst it was eight hours of makeup, and I couldn't sit down; I was in this crouched position. [During the Crucifixion] the wind was just coming down those canyons, slicing me apart. The cold was just... have you seen those things at the fair where there's a guy on a wheel, and they spin the wheel and throw knives at him and they just miss? On this movie I felt like they were all hitting me.

The long scene where Jesus gets scourged with metal lashes is incredibly difficult to watch.

There was a board on my back, about a half-inch thick, so the Roman soldiers wouldn't hit my back. But one of the soldiers missed, hit me flush on the back and ripped the skin right off. I couldn't scream, I couldn't breathe. It's so painful that it shocks your system. I looked over at the guy, and I probably said the F word. Within a couple of strokes he missed again. There's like a 14-inch scar on my back . So we had good days and bad days.

Sounds like more bad than good.

You know I got struck by lightning.

You got struck by lightning?

Oh, yeah. We were shooting the Sermon on the Mount. About four seconds before it happened it was quiet, and then it was like someone slapped my ears. I had seven or eight seconds of, like, a pink, fuzzy color, and people started screaming. They said I had fire on the left side of my head and light around my body. All I can tell you is that I looked like I went to Don King's hairstylist.
Did it occur to you that if you're playing Christ and you get struck by lightning, maybe[Laughs, then, as if speaking to God:] "Didn't like that take, huh?"

You're Catholic. Did playing Christ deepen your faith?

I love him more than I ever knew possible. I love him more than my wife, my family. There were times when I was up there [on the cross], and I could barely speak. Continual hypothermia is so excruciating. I connected to a place I could have never, ever gone. I don't want people to see me. All I want them to see is Jesus Christ.

Did Mel tell you why he wanted to make the film?

He told me that he went through a rough stretch in his life, and that he rediscovered the Gospels about 12 years ago. He began meditating on the passion and death of Jesus. In doing so, he said the wounds of Christ healed his wounds. And I think the film expresses that.

Has the controversy around the film and the fact that Mel's been accused of anti-Semitism surprised you?

It's been the most frustrating thing to watch. I can tell you this much, the guy is not in the least anti-Semitic. I never saw it. Maia Morgenstern [who plays the Virgin Mary] is this beautiful Jewish Romanian actress whose parents were in the Holocaust. Every day he'd say, "Maia, tell me about your traditions. Is this OK to do?" He wanted to make this film very Semitic. Instead of having an Aryan, blue-eyed Jesus, he wanted to have a very Semitic Jesus. Our faith is grounded in our Jewish tradition. We believe we're from the House of David. We believe we're from the House of Abraham, so we cannot hate our own. That crowd standing before Pontius Pilate screaming for the head of Christ in no way convicts an entire race for the death of Jesus Christ any more than the actions of Mussolini condemn all Italians, or the heinous actions of Stalin condemn all Russians. We're all culpable in the death of Christ. My sins put him up there. Yours did. That's what this story is about.

Was it hard to keep silent when Jewish leaders were voicing their concerns?

They have every right to defend their faith. But I believe that when all my Jewish brothers see this film, they will realize that it's not about assigning blame. It's about love. It's about sacrifice. It's about forgiveness and hope.

"Passion" at The 700 Club

Scott Ross interviews Jim Caviezel

Part 1 (Read Transcript Here)



Part 2 (Read Transcript Here)

Father Thomas Rosica on "Passion"

National Director of World Youth Day 2002 Weighs in on Film

TORONTO, FEB. 6, 2004 (Zenit.org).- A priest who oversaw World Youth Day 2002 and its Way of the Cross through the streets of Toronto says he was overwhelmed by Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." Basilian Father Thomas Rosica, head of Salt & Light Catholic Media Foundation and the first national Catholic television Network in Canada, was invited to view Gibson's movie late last year.

Father Rosica is a trained Scripture scholar and represented the Canadian bishops' conference for nearly 10 years on the National Christian-Jewish Consultation. He shared his views about "The Passion" with ZENIT.