Excerpts from JC on the challenge of playing the role of Jesus in the Passion of the Christ:
Playing Jesus meant a world of torment for Jim Caviezel, who stars in Mel Gibson's ferociously violent "The Passion of the Christ."
Caviezel dangled nearly naked on a cross in bone-chilling winds through weeks of filming. He was struck by lightning during a recreation of the Sermon on the Mount. An actor playing a Roman torturer cut a 14-inch gash in Caviezel's back during scenes of Christ's scourging.
He dislocated his shoulder carrying the cross, caught pneumonia and a lung infection, endured cuts, scrapes and backaches from the chains he bore.
...
Soft-spoken and unassuming, Caviezel often has been cast as somber, brooding characters with an otherworldly detachment, sound preparation for the role of Christ. He drew heavily on his Catholic upbringing, reread the Gospels and studied writings of Christian mystics and other literature about Jesus' final hours.
Caviezel also prayed for guidance, particularly during the rigors of the Crucifixion scenes, when he would be shouting down to the filmmakers to begin shooting so he could come down off the cross and warm his freezing body.
"At some point, I said to God, `You obviously don't care if we get this done. You don't care if we do this,'" Caviezel said. "It was at that point that I realized the only way I was going to be able to do this was getting to a place of prayer that came from here (placing a hand over his heart), not from here (pointing to his head).
"It forced me into the arms of God. That's the only place I could go. That's when God's voice came to me. `Hey, don't you worry about it. Let me take care of it, and will you allow me to use you to play?' And that's when I just said, `All right, I'm going to let you perform, and I'm going to step out of the way.'
"That was the key to this film. I didn't want people to see me. I just wanted them to see the Christ."
hey steve,
i have not seen the movie yet
but blair saw it today
i spoke about our conversation in
my journal on the means site
if you have time
its here:
www.means.tk
media then journal
love
mathematics
ps youth quake this weekend
its gonna be a techno loving time!!
miss ya man..
Posted by: matt | February 27, 2004 at 03:53