Posted on 08/09/2002 8:06:23 AM PDT by NYer
Mel Gibson, star of action movies such as Braveheart and Mad Max, is considering casting himself as Jesus in a new film about the last days of Christ set in Matera, southern Italy.
The Italian Catholic daily newspaper Avvenire, reports that the Catholic actor has been meeting with church officials and theologians to gain an insight into Christ's Passion and Crucifixion, including the Last Supper and the vigil in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Matera is a Unesco World Heritage site, famed for the Sassi, palaeolithic cave dwellings that were inhabited until recently.
Filming is due to start next month. Movie sources say Gibson chose the rocky, remote town because it was so convincing in Pasolini's 1964 classic Gospel According to St Matthew - which Gibson has long admired.
Pasolini chose the area for its bleak landscape and used unknown actors in his film - in contrast with the stars cast in other biblical epics of the time, such as the Ten Commandments and Ben Hur. Christ was played by Enrique Irazoqui, a Spanish student, who Pasolini thought resembled the gaunt Jesus of El Greco's paintings.
We can only hope that Gibson will leave the politics out of his production.
By the way I'm female, sometimes it's hard to tell with a name like Muggs.
Can you imagine how aweful the quieting of the storm on Galilee was? Can you picture the absolute shock of people from the raising of Lazarus? Every miracle is treated by directors as a non-event.
One of the better I have seen is "Matthew" which is simply the book of Matthew acted out. The Jesus portrayed in this adaptation shows anger and joy.
SIGNS, his latest film, is an awesome treatment of the subject of the loss and gain of faith. In fact, it makes the alien invasion subplot such an understated part of the film that it almost seems to be mocking the whole idea of alien life.
Notice in the film SIGNS that aliens are mortally harmed by water, and that they leave when signs of faith re-emerge.
Think of the parallel between demons/Holy Water, and the whole idea that the aliens in SIGNS were simply trying to capture humans (souls?) and you may see the incredibly spiritual aspect of this understated and superbly acted film.
If Gibson is playing Jesus Christ, I am heartily encouraged. Its nice to simply see a believer cast in such a role.
And I'd encourage any Christian here to go see SIGNS and view it through the eyes of faith. Look for the SIGNS behind the obvious in this film.
Interesting that you should mention this. Fr. Benedict Groeschel made the same observation last week, during a discussion on the Man of the Shroud. It seems that the 3D imaging of the Man of the Shroud, indicates a muscular, well developed person.
Nope, but the consequences were clear (on Calvary). People hate what they can't (or more appropriately won't) accept and understand.
I wanna see him as Sydney Carton!!!!
Oh well, I think he will do just fine, no matter what he does. He is D*** good...
Good. Can I then suggest some good ole' fashioned Catholic iconoclasm? How about tearing down and destroying all those androgenous/feminine Risen Christ statues and "crucifixes" for starters, and replacing them with Christ depicted as He was in the Shroud?
Gibson is sounding well cast in this role...
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