Mel Gibson: Passion of the Christ sequel would focus on the resurrection

Mel Gibson famously brought the story of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ to the big screen in 2004. Now, he may be focusing on the resurrection for a sequel.

Gibson answered questions about a possible follow-up to his controversial depiction of the life of Jesus Christ during an onstage interview with pastor Greg Laurie at the SoCal Harvest evangelical event in Anaheim, California on Sunday. “We’re talking about that,” Gibson said. “Of course that’s a huge undertaking, and it’s not The Passion 2 — it’s called the Resurrection.”

The Mad Max actor continued, “That’s a very big subject, and it needs to be looked at, because we don’t want to just do a simple rendering of it. I mean, we can all read what happened, but in order to really experience and explore probably deeper meanings of what it’s about, it’s gonna take some doing.”

Gibson went on to tout the work of Passion of the Christ writer Randall Wallace, who also directed 2014’s Heaven Is for Real, calling him “a brilliant writer” and “a great director.” It’s unclear who would direct the Passion sequel, but Gibson hinted at the possibility that Wallace could take the helm, saying he “is up to the task.”

For his part, Wallace also recently expressed interest in revisiting the Biblical story, telling The Hollywood Reporter, “I always wanted to tell this story. The Passion is the beginning, and there’s a lot more story to tell.”

Passion was not the first collaboration between the pair. Wallace wrote the Oscar-winning film Braveheart, which Gibson starred in and directed. The duo is also working on the upcoming World War II film Hacksaw Ridge, starring Andrew Garfield.