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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/4382321.stm The Link to the website with all the pictures...very interesting.

HOLY THURSDAYMarch 24, 2005vol 16, no. 83 Five Days of Sorrow: Fourth Sorrowful Mystery Reflections for Maundy Thursday: The Carrying of the Cross "We need such saints now more than ever! Just as surely as Our Lord's body fell under the weight of the cross, so His Mystical Body, the Church, also trembles under the weight of Her own Passion in our age of crisis. Take up that cross, on behalf of Mother Church, and like Simon of Cyrene, rejoice that you are called to assist in the salvation of the world."    And bearing His Own cross, He...

Newmarket Films, distributor of "The Passion Recut" — that's the toned-down, unrated version of Mel Gibson's bloody, anti-Semitic diatribe — obviously didn't think the whole country wanted to see this thing again. The 290 theatres it chose for the new version's release were not in Maine, Vermont or the city of Detroit. Only one theater in Manhattan got the film. The places that did get "The Passion Recut" didn't really want it anyway. The movie took in about $40,000 total, meaning about four people were at each show. It's likely that many shows, however, were empty, except for the projectionist....

'Robots' Rivets, 'Passion' Fails to Rise Again by Brandon Gray March 15, 2005 Almost as phenomenal a failure as it was a blockbuster last year, the trimmed The Passion of the Christ re-release, The Passion Recut, drew $223,789 from 954 venues—averaging a paltry $234 per site. Director Mel Gibson and distributor Newmarket expected more business in the hope of making The Passion an Easter tradition, but fans of the movie were not devout enough after seeing it in droves in its $370.3 million original run and on DVD—which is far cheaper than a night at the picture show and the...

Tarantino moves on to non-gratuitous violence Staff and agencies Tuesday March 15, 2005 Quentin Tarantino is to exchange the world of yellow jumpsuits and shiny swords for one of muddy khakis and greasy rifles. The Kill Bill director's new film, which has the projected title of Inglorious Bastards, is to be about a platoon of second world war soldiers trapped behind enemy lines. "I've been kicking back and now I'm getting ready to start working again," Tarantino, who has just started working on the film's script, told the Sun. The director - who was in London picking up an Icon...

Print this page Close by Fr. John Bartunek, LC Other Articles by Fr. John Bartunek, LC Inside Mel Gibson’s Passion 03/11/05 Last year I had the most meaningful Lent of my life, for two reasons. One, because it was my first Lent as a priest — I was ordained in Rome, on Christmas Eve, 2003. Two, because I had spent much of the previous twelve months, off and on, with Mel Gibson and the cast and crew of The Passion of The Christ — an experience that ended up giving rise to the book Inside the Passion. In This Article... A...

Will a recut Passion still stir debate? Film rereleased minus 6 minutes of worst gore Last year's success of The Passion of the Christ foretold the red state-blue state electoral vote divide as the nation's culture wars played out at the box office. Many movie goers described it as a sacred experience, but to others it was nothing more than a graceless horror flick. So it should come as no surprise that today's rerelease — now billed as The Passion Recut, minus about six minutes of the goriest scenes but still too intense to qualify for a PG-13 rating —...

Madrid, Mar. 09, 2005 (CNA) - The Archdiocese of Madrid’s publication “Alpha and Omega” publised an article in its latest edition on the testimony of the actor who played Barrabas in Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ,” who says he experienced a profound conversion while making the movie.Pedro Sarubbi, in an interview with the Italian daily Avvenire, said he had wanted to play St. Peter but Gibson “had already chosen the actors based on their resemblance to the different characters as portrayed in the paintings of Caravaggio and other masters.”  “As Barrabas, Gibson told me to avoid looking at...

Walt Disney is to promote its $100 million adaptation of C S Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as a "Passion of the Christ for kids" in an attempt to secure worldwide Christian support for the film. Disney executives have organised private meetings with several church groups in America to emphasise the themes of Christian redemption and sacrifice contained in the film, which will open in December with an all-star cast. They have also hired a public relations company to market the film directly to Christian groups to ensure that the powerful evangelical movement, which is particularly strong...

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/tm_objectid=15259739&method=full&siteid=50143&headline=mel-gibson--protect-stalker-from-my-sons-name_page.html

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=541184&page=1

Hollywood A-lister buys the rights to the book ‘Stealing from Angels'Fittingly, just ten days after the death of Sr Lucia dos Santos, the last survivor to witness the appearances of the Virgin Mary at the Portuguese town of Fatima in 1917, Mel Gibson has bought the rights to the book ‘Stealing from Angels’. Brian Dullaghan’s novel tells the story of a young Irish man who escapes a dreary life in his hometown only to slip into a life of major crime in New York. Everything changes when he meets Maria and he jumps ship again, this time to Maria’s hometown...

Gibson's new Passion gets 15 certificate 12.43PM, Mon Feb 28 2005 A new version of Mel Gibson's controversial Biblical epic The Passion of The Christ is to be released in UK cinemas this Easter. The new film, called The Passion - Recut is about six minutes shorter than the original and has been awarded a 15 certificate from the British Board of Film Classification. The Passion of The Christ, released in cinemas 12 months ago, was given an 18 certificate because of some of it violent scenes. But Gibson has now assembled the new slightly 'softer' version which he hopes...

“The Oscars® have gone back to their old ways of honoring junk.” So says Dr. Tom Snyder, a leading conservative film critic, who added, “I guess last year’s ceremony, where the Academy honored one of the greatest classic novels of all time, THE LORD OF THE RINGS, and one of the most popular movies of the year, THE RETURN OF THE KING, was just a fluke.” Dr. Snyder noted that none of the nominees for Best Picture tonight were very popular with the public. “I predict a further decline in the TV ratings,” Snyder said. Instead of honoring “immoral” movies...

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 25, 2005 – The winners for the prestigious $50,000 John Templeton Foundation Epiphany Prizes for Inspiring Movies & TV were announced last evening at the 13th Annual Movieguide® Faith & Values Awards Gala in Beverly Hills, with Dr. John Templeton, Jr., presenting THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST with the $50,000 Epiphany Prize for the Most Inspirational Movie of 2004. The $50,000 Epiphany Prize for the Most Inspirational Television Program of 2004 was awarded to the “Happy Trails” episode of DOC, broadcast by PAX-TV. “This is a very special night for us,” said Jim Caviezel, star of THE...

The secular Hollywood establishment may have turned its back on Mel Gibson, denying him a nomination for an Oscar for his blockbuster film "The Passion of the Christ," but he won the top honors at the 13th Annual MOVIEGUIDE® Faith & Values Awards Gala and Report to the Entertainment Industry, held in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton on Thursday, February 24. According to the ASSIST News Service (ANS), the award amounts to a Christian Oscar. ANS reported that "The Passion" took home the $50,000 John Templeton Foundation Epiphany Prize for Most Inspiring Movie while Jamie Foxx's The "Happy...

Raise your hand if you’re shocked that The Passion of the Christ wasn’t nominated for any major Academy Awards. Yep, that’s what I thought. Of course, you could make the argument that The Aviator, Ray, Million Dollar Baby, Finding Neverland, and Sideways were all so great that they deserved to be nominated for Best Picture, so there just wasn’t any room for The Passion. It might even be true. In any case, I wouldn’t be able to argue back, because I haven’t seen any of them. (At least I’m not alone in that. A recent headline in USA Today read,...

Today The Passion of the Christ is one year old. I thought I'd reflect a bit on the film and its impact, as well as on the forthcoming "recut" version (tomorrow). Last February was a busy time for me because of the pending February 25th release of Mel Gibson's controversial film. I had written a review for Worship Leader magazine’s January-February issue, which ended up being distributed by the hundreds of thousands. On my website I posted a long, detailed review of the movie which brought more than 18,000 visitors in February, a record for my two-month old site. Since...

On Sunday the Academy Awards will recognize the big movies and performances of the last year, but there is one movie some believe is noticeably absent from the red carpet. Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" did not receive any nominations, despite being a major success at the box office and moving many believers around the country. Now there's a debate on wether the film was snubbed because of its religious content. Reverend Robert Slimp, a Presbyterian minister, says, "In our world today there is antagonism about absolute about a man saying, 'I'm the way, truth and life. No...