He's baaaack! Given what the Bible teaches, we know he wasn't pissed, though. After years of jokes about a possible follow-up to Mel Gibson's box-office storming The Passion Of The Christ, an indie production team is hoping to strike it lucky with another tale from Jesus' life in The Resurrection Of The Christ.
It's not an official sequel, but Bill McKay's planned film, with **The Body's Jonas McCord directing and The Hurricane'**s Dan Gordon writing, will focus on the power, greed and ambition of those around the crucifixion, including Pontius Pilate, Caiaphas and Judas.
"It's as much about the key players as it is about Jesus," McKay tells Variety. "We want to bring in the Gladiator dimension of the first century against the political milieu of the time." A Gladiator dimension? Jesus vs. tiger! Come on, you know it would be cool.
But with Christ taking less of a central role this time out, we doubt they'll get Jim Caviezel to star again, though they do have $20 million to finance the film. Much of that will be spent around Morocco, Europe and Israel when shooting starts in July, with a release planned for - you guessed it - Easter 2011.
If it truly does tell the story of the resurrection, at least it'll have a happier ending this time.