A lot of the focus in Hollywood is on the people who make the movies. If there’s a star, people want to know all about him or her. Celebrities like Mel Gibson and Jim Caviezel—who portrayed Jesus in The Passion of the Christ —are human magnets to a lot of folks.
There’s been an interesting paradigm shift in this movie. While Mel and Jim must certainly enjoy the celebrity that comes with creating a phenomenal film, it appears they would prefer the focus be elsewhere: on Jesus Himself.
Jim Caviezel was working on a film after he finished The Passion, and a buddy of mine was producing it. I really wanted to talk with Jim about his experiences and hear firsthand how he was a different man. I suspected he could speak to miracles and changed lives as well as anyone because he had had the unique experience of portraying the Redeemer of the world in the redemptive act of all time.
My friend arranged for us to meet on the stages where they were finishing up the music for the film. We met, discovered we had some mutual friends on the SEAL teams, had some
lunch, and then went over and sat down to a 40-minute interview.
I liked Jim right away. He seemed very introspective and thoughtful—soft-spoken and careful with his words. We shared concerns about challenges in the church and how we need to take life as believers in Jesus a lot more seriously. It was evident he considered his job as an actor an honor and a responsibility. This would not be your typical “Hollywood star” interview.
One thing I discovered right away: His prayer was that people seeing the film would not see Jim, but that they would see Jesus.
That prayer was answered.. .big time.
After meeting with Mel Gibson and hearing that he was going to make a film authentic to the Christian faith, Jim knew The Passion was going to be a very powerful film but also that it would divide.
The film would upset people because it was presenting the truth about Jesus Christ. People sitting and watching the last 12 hours of Jesus’ life would be faced with the decision of whether Jesus was God as He claimed.. .or was this man, brutally killed in His innocence, a liar and dying in vain? This is not your typical matinee fare. And with the controversy that was sure to follow such a film subject, Jim had a choice to make when Mel Gibson presented the role to him. With careful thought given to his life and faith, Jim realized he owed it to God to do this movie.
And when the process for the film began, Jim was certain that it transcended typical film...to the point that it can no longer just be considered a film. It is an experience that says
to people, I have got to get right, right now!” It is an encounter with Christ.
During our conversation, Jim and I discussed how men make time for what they want, what they feel is important. And the reason man does not make time for God is because he does not love God. At some point, this film poses hard questions to the audience: Do you really love Him? Do you call Him “the Way” but decide not to follow Him?
When Jim started the film, he was trying to get involved with the languages. His biggest challenge and what he felt would be his personal miracle was learning the complicated languages enough that he could speak from his heart.
He faced this obstacle with prayer. As a Roman Catholic he would begin with the Rosary. Then he would go to the Mass. He also spent significant time in the Scriptures. There were times he didn’t want to pray or he lacked the energy, but it became an act of faith and discipline that would carry him through the grueling production.
While working on the film, Jim faced a truth we all face if we are honest with ourselves and with God.. .he did not love enough. God challenged him to love more. He felt humbled, knowing that the Holy Spirit asks us to work on our strengths—the talents God has given us—but also our weaknesses.
Many times Jim did not feel worthy of the task before him, but he had to dare to try. With great humility he understood the significance and importance of playing Christ because this presentation, this movie experience, could help people—help them see truth.
Back to prayer. Again and again he had to come back to praying because of whom he was playing. Christ had to be inside him.. .and the inspiration and strength of his performance. This kind of praying drew him to what was a great miracle—an understanding that he didn’t want people to see him on the screen. He only wanted the audience members to see Christ. And this became his daily prayer.
This is the miracle that transformed a performance into an experience.
No one can be passive about The Passion. Even if someone walked out or said they didn’t believe any of it, there is nothing passive about the emotions it stirs and how it speaks to the heart of anyone who watches or has been involved in the filming. Those who resist seeing the film do so with a disclaimer that it isn’t their “thing” or their “answer.” But they just don’t want to deal with a confrontation with truth.
People have responded in many ways to The Passion. Some have laughed at the idea of attending this movie. But there are others who are brave, see it, and believe. All of these people and their places along the faith journey are represented on that screen...those whose hearts are sold out for God, those who laugh at the idea of a Savior, and those who are brave enough to find answers to their deepest questions.
The day after Mel Gibson offered Jim the role, he then basically tried to talk him out of it. When Jim asked Mel why he was trying to deter him, Mel explained that what Jim would have to do for this role, for this experience, would be extremely difficult. Jim responded with strength. He was willing to carry the cross or be crushed by it.
At this point in his conversation with Mel, Jim brought up the fact that his initials are J.C. and he was 33 years old. The same age as Christ on the cross.
This is just one of several “coincidences” and flat-out miracles on the set of the movie. Another one relevant to an actor’s name is Maia Morgenstern, who played the Virgin Mary. “Morgenstern,” means “Morningstar,” who is called the “Blessed Mother.” Such miracles appeared as signals of grace to many on the set, and they happened over and over again during the filming.
The now much-publicized account of Jim being struck by lightning is one of those more powerful “signals of grace.” He was high up on a hill and just knew he was going to get hit. They were about to roll the camera and his hair started to stand up. Within seconds, he looked at others in front of him and their eyes lit up as though they were going to cry. Then, boom! Witnesses said they saw fire on the right and left sides of his head.
When Jim was hit, he should have been hurt. But he wasn’t. From that moment, he felt that nothing was going to stop this film. This was a movie that even after being shown in theaters will continue to live.
Anyone who turned on their television during this time knows that The Passion happened amid attacks...verbal attacks against Mel Gibson, against the Christian faith, and against the representation of Christ as more than a “good person” or leader.
Thirteen years before The Passion, Jim felt led to be an actor, and at the time, he didn’t know why. He recalls telling his dad, who responded that if God wanted him to be anything, it would
be a priest. Yet God has been preparing Jim his whole life for this. And if he hadn’t gone through these years of preparation, he would have never been ready for the question from Mel Gibson asking him to play Christ. Every ounce of his flesh wanted to yell no, but his heart was able to say yes.
And that response led to a time like no other in his life. He witnessed miracles big and small. Just making it through the process was a miracle in itself. Getting up at 2:00 A.M., going till 10:00 at night. Special-effects makeup itching like mad, having a dislocated shoulder, getting on a cross and experiencing hypothermia, which was horrendously painful. Then, in the midst of being freezing cold, on the cross he started to experience suffocation.
Most of the time, he couldn’t eat or keep food down. He would throw up lunch all the time. His body couldn’t digest anything because of the hypothermia. He had times when his whole body was shutting down.
At the end of the day, he would take a two-hour hot shower in which two people scrubbed him down to get off the makeup. Now, you would think being in a hot shower would be nice after being out in the cold, but what ends up happening is that the heat makes you want to throw up.. .which he did.
Three hours of sleep, then up again at 2:00 A.M. Repeat the same thing for five weeks.
Jim said he was miserable and at times didn’t know how he could continue. So many times he wanted to quit but, for him, it was as when Peter said to the Lord, “Where will we go?” He had nowhere else to go. He knew he had to finish this thing.
It was truly a miracle he was able to pull that off. And through that miracle of endurance and perseverance, the miracle Jim
had asked for happened...people watching the last 12 hours of Christ s life would not see Jim at all.. .they would see Christ. Only Christ.
Though Jim was aware of many good things that took place during the filming of The Passion, he was also aware of evil things that happened. But somehow—or rather because of Someone—everyone came through to create the most remarkable “religious” film ever made.
Even during the height of the controversy over the film, there was peace because Jim knew that if this were not a controversial film, then they had not done a very good job. What controversy is there if Christ is just a good person? What did He say about loving your neighbor? You know, if you love only those who love you, what good is that? No, love your enemy. Do good to those who hurt you. And as much as these messages should incite unity, they don’t...not in the world. They are words that divide.
The relevance of this film for today is easy to see.. .just look around. There are the means and the will to destroy the world. We have witnessed this in the terror of September 11 and in the aftermath that has followed. This film can open a truth for those willing to hear and that could prevent some serious devastation on mankind.
People of faith surrounding or directly involved in the film knew it would be successful if it was done not how man would want it but how God needed it to be made—and that would be in a controversial way. It would be the complete opposite of the world, this world that knew Him not.
How does someone feel after playing Christ? How does someone look at their own life from that point on? It was very
easy for Jim to get down on himself for falling short sometimes. But what kept him going is that original question from the Holy Spirit, “Can I love more?” And to this question he prays his heart will answer, “Yes. Yes, I can love more.”
I’ve interviewed a lot of celebrities over the years and am friends with several. They’re mostly regular folks like you and me. But Jim stood out in an unusual way. I really had to work at seeing him as Jesus. I was right there, face-to-face, but it was Jim Caviezel, not Jesus. (By contrast, Arnold Schwarzenegger is The Terminator, Jackie Chan is Jackie Chan...you can’t get around it.)
But there came an unexpected moment. The interview was finished, and Jim and I were leaving the stage together. I had told him about the night-vision footage I’d shot of people’s faces watching The Passion of the Christ. He was interested in that and curious as to the scenes people reacted to the most (the flogging scenes of course, I told him). As we finished talking, Jim asked about reactions to the scene in which Jesus carried and then embraced His cross—then he reenacted the action just as he had done in the film—hunching over, raising his arms over his shoulders as if he were carrying—and embracing—a cross.
I am emotionally moved as I write this.
All of a sudden Jim was not present—though physically he still was. It was as though I were standing directly beside Jesus carrying His cross to Calvary. He stood a foot away from me,
looking into my eyes, embracing His cross, and asking me with His heart, His eyes, “How did they respond when I did this?”
“How did they respond when I did this?”
That is the single most important question of the film.
