If people expected Mel Gibson to retire quietly into the night after his multiple controversies that threatened to end his career, then they are sadly mistaken. Variety reports that the action star turned director is floating the idea of following up The Passion of the Christ with a sequel.
The 60-year old opened up to Greg Laurie at the SoCal Harvest where he let slip a working title and where the project was at.
"We're talking about that," said Gibson. "Of course that’s a huge undertaking. It’s not 'The Passion 2' — its called The Resurrection. 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. I mean, we can all read what happened, but in order to really experience and explore probably deeper meanings of what it's about, it's gonna take some doing."
Original Passion Still A Divisive Talking Point
Amid the infamous antisemitism controversy that plagued Gibson for the last decade, his 2004 biblical epic The Passion of the Christ had religious groups up in arms alongside numerous critics that slammed the consistent graphic violence on display. Despite touching on delicate subject matter, the film saw waves of people flooding through the cinemas as it returned $612m from a budget of just $30m.
It would be a brave choice to return to this story, but Gibson does not appear to be too concerned about the backlash given his history. The Braveheart star and director also intimated that he has original screenplay writer Randall Wallace on board for the sequel should it be given the green light.
Gibson Keeping Himself Busy With Various Projects
Whilst the offers would have dried up with production companies nervous about associating with Gibson, he has managed to stay busy. Even more incredible, he has produced some outstanding work. Besides directing the 2006 smash hit epic adventure Apocalypto, he returned to form in front of the camera with starring roles in Edge of Darkness, Get the Gringo, Machete Kills and The Expendables 3.
Giving substance to a down-on-his-luck manic vigilante hell-bent on justice has always been Gibson's strength on-screen. But this years war bio-picture Hacksaw Ridge is set to hit cinemas as he looks to regain further directorial credibility. The movie stars Andrew Garfield, Vince Vaughn and Sam Worthington.
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