Mel Gibson has offered a major update on a sequel to one of his biggest films, 20 years after it was first released.
The Passion of the Christ came out in February, 2004, and was surrounded by huge controversy at the time – the biblical drama followed the final 12 hours before Jesus’ death.
It starred Jim Caviezel in the leading role, beside Monica Bellucci, Rosalinda Celentano and Maia Morgenstern, with Mel serving as writer, director and producer.
After it became a huge success at the box office, raking in more than $600million worldwide, there was a lot of talk about a possible follow-up, which has been titled: The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection and is said to take place just days after the original.
Although the project reportedly went into development in 2016, little else has been shared about it since, but it was recently claimed that the 68-year-old was scouting locations.
Discussing his efforts in a new chat with ComicBook.com, he teased how he could bridge a gap between both films after more than two decades.
‘I have ways of dealing with that, because 20 years ago is [supposed to be] three days later,’ he coyly shared. ‘So it has its own peculiar set of problems, which I think I can solve.’
One problem that Mel has to figure out himself is whether he’ll focus on the Passion of the Christ: Resurrection follow-up before Lethal Weapon 5, or the other way around.
When asked what he plans to do first, the What Women Want actor admitted: ‘I don’t know, and that’s the funny thing.
‘There’s various obstacles to getting any film up on its feet, and not just budgetary, but there’s 1,000,001 reasons why something goes and why it doesn’t.
‘It’s really kind of a crapshoot, at this point, what goes first and which came first, whether it’s the chicken or the egg.’
Mel starred as Martin Riggs in Lethal Weapon – alongside Danny Glover and Gary Busey – with the first instalment in the beloved buddy cop franchise dropping in 1987.
Richard Donner was behind the camera for the first four films and was planning a sequel before his death in 2021.
After he died, Mel announced that he would be stepping into the director’s shoes for the untitled fifth flick, but very few details have been confirmed since.
During an appearance on the Inspire Me Podcast, he explained: ‘Richard Donner, who did the other four, sadly passed away, and he was a good friend.
‘He kind of tasked me with carrying the flag home on this one so it’ll be an honor for me to do that.
‘He had gone a fair way with the screenplay, so we’ve used what was there and we kept poking at it. I’m pretty happy with it.’