{"id":302851,"date":"2025-10-14T14:42:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T14:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/302851\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T14:42:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T14:42:10","slug":"mel-gibsons-resurrection-of-the-christ-casts-new-jesus-mary-magdalene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/302851\/","title":{"rendered":"Mel Gibson’s Resurrection of the Christ Casts New Jesus, Mary Magdalene"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMel Gibson<\/a>\u2019s \u201cThe Resurrection of the Christ,\u201d his long-delayed sequel to 2004\u2019s \u201cThe Passion of the Christ,\u201d has cast Finnish actor Jaakko Ohtonen (\u201cThe Last Kingdom\u201d) in the role of Jesus, replacing original star Jim Caviezel.<\/p>\n

\n\tShooting started last week at Rome\u2019s Cinecitt\u00e0 Studios on the film, with its main ensemble having been entirely recast. More than 20 years ago, Gibson shot the original \u201cPassion of the Christ\u201d at Cinecitt\u00e0, which became one of the largest-grossing independent films of all time with a worldwide box office of $610 million. As previously announced, \u201cThe Resurrection of the Christ\u201d will be split into two films, with each part set to release in 2027.<\/p>\n

\n\tMary Magdalene, a role held in \u201cPassion\u201d by Monica Bellucci, is being played in \u201cResurrection\u201d by Cuban actress Mariela Garriga, who starred in the\u00a0\u201cMission Impossible: Dead Reckoning\u201d films as Marie. Polish-born actor Kasia Smutniak (\u201cDomina\u201d) is replacing Maia Morgenstern as Mary; Peter is being played by Italy\u2019s Pier Luigi Pasino, who stars in Netflix Italy original \u201cThe Law According to\u00a0Lidia Po\u00ebt\u201d; and the Pontius Pilate role will be played by Italy\u2019s Riccardo Scamarcio, who recently led the Johnny Depp-directed biopic \u201cMod\u00ec.\u201d Rupert Everett will appear an unspecified small but important role.<\/p>\n

\n\tBecause of the time frame in which \u201cThe Resurrection of the Christ\u201d takes place \u2014 three days after Christ\u2019s crucifixion on Good Friday \u2014 \u201cit made sense to recast the whole film,\u201d a source close to the production told Variety. \u201cThey would have had to do all this CGI stuff, all this digital stuff \u2014 de-aging and all that \u2014 that would have been very costly,\u201d the source noted.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn April, the 57-year-old Caviezel had suggested on the \u201cArroyo Grande\u201d podcast that he was ready to reprise his career-defining role of Jesus in the sequel. Ohtonen, who is 36, is presently best known for his role as the Dane warrior Wolland in the fifth season of Netflix\u2019s historical epic \u201cThe Last Kingdom.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Resurrection of the Christ\u201d is being produced by Gibson, Bruce Davey and their Icon Productions banner with Lionsgate as the studio partner.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe original film, which is spoken in Aramaic, Hebrew and Latin to create a more historically accurate and immersive experience, followed the final 12 hours before the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Gibson\u00a0has described the sequels<\/a>\u00a0as an \u201cacid trip,\u201d adding that he \u201cnever read anything like\u201d the scripts, which the filmmaker wrote alongside \u201cBraveheart\u201d screenwriter Randall Wallace. As the title suggests, the plot is expected to focus on Jesus Christ\u2019s resurrection. Other story details are being kept under wraps.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Resurrection of the Christ<\/a>\u00a0Part One\u201d is slated for Good\u00a0Friday on March 26, 2027, while\u00a0\u201cPart Two\u201d\u00a0is set\u00a0for 40 days later on Ascension Day, May 6. Lionsgate will release the films in theaters.<\/p>\n

\n\tBesides Cinecitt\u00e0, where it occupies the new Studio 22 facility, \u201cResurrection\u201d will also shoot in the ancient southern Italian town of Matera.\u00a0Gibson is expected to shoot the sequel in other ancient Southern Italian rural locations, including Ginosa, Gravina Laterza and Altamura.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mel Gibson\u2019s \u201cThe Resurrection of the Christ,\u201d his long-delayed sequel to 2004\u2019s \u201cThe Passion of the Christ,\u201d has…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":302852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[171,63564,153808,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-302851","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-mel-gibson","10":"tag-the-resurrection-of-the-christ","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115373050906534092","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}