FINE^ ARTIMAGESʔHERITAGEIMAGESʔGETTYscreenwriter of Braveheart, to write
the script for Resurrection. Wallace
didn’t respond to a request for com-
ment, but people close to produc-
tion say a descent into hell is part of
the equation, though to what extent
remains to be seen.
If history is a guide, Gibson will
be tinkering with Resurrection up
until right before its eventual release,
just as he did with Passion. For that
production, he hosted hundreds of
screenings with faith leaders who gave
their feedback. People who attended
said Gibson was receptive, person-
able and occasionally colorful. When
nationally prominent pastor Chuck
Smith complained about the graphic
torture scenes, Gibson said, “Yeah, it
was a real shit-sandwich, wasn’t it?”
Gibson did tone down the vio-
lence a bit, according to several
faith leaders who saw the earlier
version before its wide release. He
also tweaked a scene that some told
him smacked of anti-Semitism. And
at the urging of several faith leaders,
including Ted Baehr, chairman of the
Christian Film and Television Com-
mission whose Movieguide analyzes
films using 150 different metrics and
reaches about 30 million people overvarious platforms, Gibson also added
a short scene of the resurrection. The
final minute of Passion shows the
risen Jesus walking in his tomb and
features a close-up of one of his nail-
pierced hands.
As for the question of how Gibson
may depict the harrowing, Baehr says
“People get puffed up with knowledge.
There is some basis for Jesus descend-
ing into hell, but we just don’t know,
so why bother arguing about it?” He
says any controversy may be good PR
for the film: “Conflict marketing will
work very well, just as it did with the
Passion when people called it anti-Se-
mitic, anti-this and anti-that.”
The Reverend Samuel Rodriguez,
president of the National Hispanic
Christian Leadership Conference
and among those who pre-screened
Passion, told Newsweek he thinks
Resurrection will be well-received
by evangelicals as long as it nails the“meta-narrative. Like with Passion; it
wasn’t verbatim Matthew, Mark, Luke
and John.” While Rodriguez says he
doesn’t believe Jesus descended into
hell, he adds: “For the Christ-follow-
ing world, it’s not an egregious divid-
ing point.”
Meanwhile another possible prob-
lem for Resurrection with a religious
audience may be Gibson’s personal life.
His children out of wedlock, allegedly
violent temper and racist rants hav-
en’t sat well with evangelicals. Gibson
has made public apologies for some
of his past outbursts and attributed
them in part to his struggles with
alcohol. Several evangelicals, however,
told Newsweek they skipped Hacksaw
Ridge because they were repelled by
Gibson’s “immorality.” Biola Univer-
sity’s Gomes, however, says “I don’t
know what to think about evangelicals
anymore. They don’t seem concerned
about Donald Trump, a guy who
doesn’t exactly exude Christian values,
so why hold it against Gibson? And I
say that as a rock-ribbed conservative.”
There may be other objections, too.
J.D. Hall was among the faith lead-
ers who pre-screened Passion. His
response was mostly positive, but he
says he now views artistic portrayals
of Jesus as violations of the Second
Commandment’s ban on the worship
of “graven images.” He’s not planning
to see Resurrection when it comes out.
“Jesus is the most famous and inter-
esting person who ever lived, so there
will be a sizable market for Resurrec-
tion,” Hall says. “But idolatry includes
Jim Caviezel playing Christ. They’re
commercializing the Son of God. If
Jesus returned and walked into a the-
ater playing this movie, he’d turn over
the tables of the money changers.”“Jesus is the
most famous and
interesting personwho ever lived.”
HOLLYWOOD44 NEWSWEEK.COM MAY 22, 2020
RISEN In Italian Renaissance
master Piero della Francesca’s The
Resurrection, Christ emerges from
his tomb as Roman soldiers sleep.