'Passion of the Christ' sequel will be 'biggest film in world history' - Jim Caviezel

Jim Caviezel as Jesus in The Passion of the Christ(Photo: Icon)

Actor Jim Caviezel is promising big things with the next installment of The Passion of the Christ.

The star of the original 2004 movie, in which he played Jesus, told Breitbart News he's received the third draft for the sequel from director Mel Gibson. 

The sequel, called The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection, doesn't have a release date yet but Caviezel expects it to be a hit when it does finally land in theaters. 

"Mel Gibson just sent me the third picture, the third draft. It's coming," he told Breitbart

"It's going to be the biggest film in world history," he added. 

Gibson first confirmed he was planning a sequel back in 2016 when he appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. 

During the interview, he told Colbert that it would take a long time to release because the resurrection is "a big subject". 

He teased that the movie might not be what people expect. 

"It's not just some chronological telling of just that event. That could be boring, and you think, 'Oh, we read that,'" Gibson said.

"But what are the other things around it that happened? Sure, you're going all over the place. What happened in three days? I'm not sure, but it's worth thinking about. Get your imagination going."

Gibson faced resistance from Hollywood when he pitched the first Passion movie but it went on to be a box office smash, taking in $612m worldwide. 

Caviezel told Brietbart that the film's huge success didn't mean more work for him, and that actually the opposite happened. 

"The film exploded. It was off the charts," Caviezel said.

"You'd think, 'Oh, you're going to work a lot.' No, I didn't. I was no longer on the studio list. That was gone."

But he said he accepted the role because his personal "faith was much bigger than the industry and Hollywood, and bigger than the Republican or Democratic Party or any of that."

"Because of what I do as an actor — that's my skill — it was given to me from God. I didn't give it to myself," he said.