Mel Gibson's upcoming two-part film series, "The Resurrection of the Christ," will explore spiritual realms and feature dialogue primarily in English, a departure from the ancient languages used in the original "The Passion of the Christ." The filmmaker discussed the project in an interview with Raymond Arroyo on "The Arroyo Grande Show."
Gibson stated that the decision to use English was to make the complex spiritual concepts more accessible to a wider audience. "I thought it was just silly to make people read subtitles in a foreign language when they were dealing with such heady concepts," Gibson said. He noted that the original film, which focused on the final 12 hours of Jesus' life, had a "simpler message" of human suffering, while the resurrection and its aftermath present a more profound and difficult-to-comprehend event.
"The Resurrection of the Christ: Part One" is slated for release on May 6, 2027, with "Part Two" scheduled for May 25, 2028. The films will delve into the resurrection and the events that followed, taking viewers on what Gibson described as a "trip" across different spiritual realms and exploring humanity's connection to them.
"It takes a pretty broad trip [from] our own broken world to, you know, other realms and stuff with different natures, and connects all of them, I hope — because we're all connected, and we all know we're connected," Gibson explained.
Gibson acknowledged the extensive development time for the project, which comes more than 20 years after the 2004 release of "The Passion of the Christ." He views the delay as intentional, stating, "There’s no accidents anywhere."
The original film, which starred Jim Cavieetz as Jesus, depicted the crucifixion in detail and was primarily in Aramaic, Hebrew, and Latin. The upcoming sequels are described as a "monster" and a "massive undertaking," a journey that Gibson characterized as a transformative, communal experience.
