(LifeSiteNews) — Actor Jim Caviezel will not reprise his role as Jesus in Mel Gibson’s “The Resurrection of the Christ,” the much-anticipated follow-up to the 2004 film “The Passion of the Christ.”
Taking the place of the now 57-year-old famously devout Catholic actor who starred in the original film is Finnish actor Jaakko Ohtonen, 36, best known for his role in British drama “The Last Kingdom,” per Variety.
Not much is known about Ohtonen to English-speaking audiences, including whether or not he is a practicing Christian.
A quick perusal of the Finn’s social media accounts and online bios offered no clues to his religious faith.
“The Actor who Mel Gibson picked to play Jesus Christ in Passion of the Christ sequels, Jaakko Ohtonen, has pronouns in his bio,” noted the X news site The Calvin Coolidge Project (TCCP). “He never mentioned his faith on Instagram and doesn’t follow any faith-based accounts.”
“Did Gibson pick the wrong guy?” wondered TCCP.
In a June 2019 Instagram post, the young actor, wearing a rainbow-themed t-shirt, wished those participating in pride marches and other festivities “a weekend filled with love! … Love belongs to everyone!”
If Ohtonen currently has little or no faith, perhaps the experience of playing Jesus will spark a conversion in the same way the experience of playing Padre Pio brought actor Shia LaBeouf to a deep Catholic faith and appreciation for the Traditional Latin Mass in 2022.
Ohtonen’s talent agency took to social media to publicly congratulate their client.
“We are delighted to announce that Jaakko Ohtonen has been cast in the lead role of Jesus in Mel Gibson’s highly anticipated sequel, ‘The Resurrection of the Christ,’” said Ohtonen’s talent agency in a statement. “This follows the monumental success of Gibson’s original film, “The Passion of the Christ” which grossed over $610 million worldwide and stood as the highest-grossing R-rated film in U.S. history for more than two decades.”
“The upcoming two-part film will be produced at Cinecittà Studios, with ‘The Resurrection of the Christ Part One’ slated for Good Friday on March 26, 2027, while ‘Part Two’ is set for 40 days later on Ascension Day, May 6,” explained the agency. “Lionsgate will release the films theatrically.”
A source close to the film’s production said the decision was due to Caviezel’s age and the costs of using de-aging CGI technology to make him appear as the 33-year-old Christ.
“They would have had to do all this CGI stuff, all this digital stuff — de-aging and all that — that would have been very costly,” the source told Variety.
Caviezel will not be the only actor recast; the decision was made to recast the entire film. Cuban actress Mariela Garriga will replace Monica Bellucci as St. Mary Magdalene, Italian actor Pier Luigi Pasino will replace Francesco De Vito as St. Peter, another Italian actor, Riccardo Scamarcio, will replace Hristo Shopov as Pontius Pilate, while Polish actress Kasia Smutniak will replace Maia Morgenstern as the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Earlier this year, it had been reported that Caviezel would indeed reprise his role as Our Lord.
