The strange events that plagued the ‘The Passion of the Christ’
When it emerged that Mel Gibson was working on a re-telling of the last days of Jesus Christ, many worried he might incite the wrath of god. Rumours of extreme violence, anti-Semitism and historical inaccuracy caused outrage among critics, audiences and religious groups. Indeed, several strange events occurred that seemed to imply that Gibson had managed to upset not only the punters in the seats but also The Man Upstairs.
The Passion of The Christ focuses on Christ’s crucifixion as Judas hastens the messiah’s downfall by handing him over to the Roman Empire. Christ’s mother, Mary, as well as Mary Magdalene and his disciples, are horrified to hear of this betrayal. Gibson holds nothing back in depicting the torture, humiliation and eventual crucifixion of Christ in the most brutal way possible. It shocked audiences and, as noted, caused a huge amount of controversy. And yet it still managed to win three Academy Award nominations.
During production, something rather unusual happened. According to one study, around 240,000 people are struck by lightning every year. That might seem like a lot, but it’s actually still pretty rare statistically. On the set of The Passion in 2003, however, lightning struck no less than three times.
Discussing the incident with the 700 Club, leading man Jim Caviezel recalled that he was “lit up like a Christmas tree” while filming the Sermon on the Mount scene. “I knew it was going to hit me about four seconds before it happened,” the actor said. “I thought, ‘I’m going to get hit.’ And when it happened, I saw the extras grab the ground.”
The lightning bolt illuminated his entire body and set his hair on fire. The Cameras, however, hadn’t even finished panning to his position. Strangely, nobody had even noticed what had just happened. “By the time the cameras got to me,” Caviezel recalled, “I hear Mel screaming out, ‘What the heck happened to his hair?’ I looked like I went to see Don King’s hairstylist.”
Caviezel wasn’t the only one harmed during the electrical storm: “Five minutes after I got hit,” he went on to explain, “Jon Mikalini, an assistant, walks over and says ‘Are you okay?’ And then he got hit. The difference was that they saw the bolt come down and hit Jon … All I felt was this giant tremendous slap on my ears and a few seconds of a pink, red static in front of my eyes.” Sounds like a slice of Old Testament wrath to me.
