The Passion of the Christ

Trivia: Satan is actually played by a woman - the Italian actress Rosalinda Celentano.

Trivia: During filming, Jim Caviezel was accidentally whipped in the back, and since the crew were filming, his real reactions were incorporated onscreen.

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Trivia: The hand that draws the line in the sand during Mary Magdalene's flashback is Mel Gibson's.

Trivia: Is the highest-grossing ($370 million) R-rated film in North American box office history, breaking the previous record held by "The Matrix Reloaded" (2003).

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Trivia: With box office receipts of over $370 million (as of September 5, 2004), "The Passion" has become the highest-grossing religious-themed film of all time.

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Trivia: Mel Gibson filmed the scene where Pilate is offering to release either Barabbas or Jesus and Pilate says "why do you want to crucify Jesus, he has done nothing wrong" (paraphrased) and the people shout, "Give us Barabbas, let His (Jesus) blood be on our children" which is taken directly from the gospel of Matthew; however, Gibson deleted the subtitle for the line because he felt it would fuel anti-Semitism.

Jeanne Perrotta

Trivia: In that grisly scene where Jesus is being flogged, Jim Caviezel stated that he was actually struck twice. The first time knocked the wind out of him, and left a 14 inch scar on his back. The second time hurt so badly that is caused him to wrench his hand from the shackle, scraping his wrist. What with also getting struck by lightning in a different scene, he wasn't exactly undertested for the role.

Trivia: James Caviezel's initials are JC (like Jesus Christ), and was 33 years old around the time of the film's shooting, about the same age Jesus when he was crucified.

Trivia: Until October 2003, the film was originally called "The Passion" until Mel Gibson found that Miramax owns the rights to that name (from a romantic fantasy book), so he decided to add "of Christ" to it. Then a month latter, Gibson added an additional "the" between "of" and "Christ" which makes it "The Passion of the Christ," the title which was released in theaters.

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Trivia: The movie apparently has some beneficial effects as well, for there are at least two real-life cases in which a murderer and a Neo-nazi terrorist have turned themselves over to the police after having watched this movie.

Trivia: Before an Israeli arthouse theater decided to screen the film in Israel, no theater in the country was willing to show it because of the anti-Semitism controversy.

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Trivia: Is currently the fastest major theatrical film to earn back its production and marketing costs ($55 million in three days). It is also the fastest film to earn a profit (grossing over the $110 million threshold within five days), since a film needs to earn twice the production and marketing costs to make a profit.

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Trivia: Not only is the film the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time in North America, it was the first to pass the $300 million mark on March 24, 2004. However, it is only second ($609 million) to 2003's "The Matrix Reloaded" ($739 million) as the highest-grossing R-rated film worldwide.

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Trivia: As a rarity for a dramatic film, there is no disclaimer that states it is a work of fiction and that the characters resembling actual people are coincidence.

Jeff Walker

Trivia: Mel Gibson wanted originally to present this film without subtitles until negative responses to the radical idea from potential distributors compelled him to change his mind.

Trivia: Director/producer Mel Gibson wanted the film to look like the paintings from the Italian baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1573-1610). The artist is known for works marked by intense realism and revolutionary use of light. His best work is the "Deposition of Christ" (1604).

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Revealing mistake: Just before the Roman soldiers pressed Simon of Cyrene to help Jesus carry the cross, Jesus has fallen and we see that the bruised and swollen-shut eye is now his left. The shot changes and when it comes back to Jesus his right eye is swollen shut again. The film must have been flipped.

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Jesus: Forgive them, Father. They know not what they do.

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Question: I have heard a rumor that Gibson plans to produce both a prequel and a sequel to The Passion. Does anyone know if this is true or have any information?

Answer: There is going to be another movie; The Resurrection, which could shoot as early as the summer of 2018, the release date will be some time in 2019-2020. I previously watched this movie and felt it left on a cliff hanger, (tho I already know what happens in the end) I figured there has to be another one coming.

Answer: No idea about a sequel, though the only "prequel" idea I know about is the story of the Maccabees (the story of Haunakah (sorry for the spelling)).

Xofer

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