Mel Gibson apparently feels moviegoers need more Jesus. The eccentric and talented actor/director is working on a follow-up to his controversial blood-soaked blockbuster 2004 The Passion of the Christ, according to an exclusive from The Hollywood Reporter.
More than a decade after The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson and screenwriter Randall Wallace are cooking up…a sequel?
“The Passion is the beginning and there’s a lot more story to tell,” Wallace tells the Hollywood Reporter, later adding, “The evangelical community considers The Passion the biggest movie ever out of Hollywood, and they kept telling us that they think a sequel will be even bigger.”
Wallace previously penned Braveheart (for which he scored an Oscar nomination) and Pearl Harbor; he directed Secretariat and Heaven Is for Real. Gibson’s rep wouldn’t tell THR how involved he is with the new project. The two recently teamed up for Hacksaw Ridge, a Gibson-directed World War II flick that’ll premiere this fall.
The Passion of the Christ, the magazine notes, is history’s most successful indie movie, earning $611.9 million globally on a $30 million budget. Gibson went on to helm 2006’s Apocalypto and hasn’t directed since.
Agencies/Canadajournal