Mel Gibson Warned His Braveheart Partner that Satan Would Come After Them for Making This Movie

July 22, 2026 Cat2, The Media
Romolo Tavani via shutterstock

Jim Caviezel was struck by lightning on the cross and Mel Gibson kept filming.

Now Gibson is making the sequel – and the man writing it just revealed what Gibson told him before they typed a single word.

He warned his partner flat out: Satan is going to come after you for this.

What Gibson Knew That Hollywood Didn't

Randall Wallace – the Baptist kid from Memphis who studied at Duke Divinity School and wrote "every man dies, not every man really lives" – didn't approach this project lightly.

He pitched Gibson on the sequel during their Hacksaw Ridge promotional tour in 2016, and he wasn't pitching a franchise opportunity.

He was pitching what he calls "the most important story in human history."

Gibson's first response wasn't about budgets or release dates.

There was a long pause – and then Gibson set the terms.

"This can't be for the money," Gibson told Wallace, "and it can't be to get back at people that have hated us or wronged us."

Wallace said amen.

Then Gibson dropped the warning: Satan is going to come after you.

Wallace – being a Baptist – joked that Satan doesn't particularly care about Baptists.

Then he admitted, on Raymond Arroyo's podcast Arroyo Grande, that Gibson might be right.

Gibson Already Knew What Happens When You Tell This Story

Gibson wasn't guessing about spiritual warfare.

He'd lived it on the Passion set.

While filming the crucifixion scene, Caviezel was struck by lightning and his hair caught fire.

He survived.

The assistant director was struck twice on that same production.

Caviezel also dislocated his shoulder carrying the cross, took an accidental whipping that left a 14-inch scar, and contracted hypothermia filming in below-freezing conditions.

The actor playing Judas – a self-described angry atheist – converted to Christianity before the film wrapped.

Gibson watched all of it happen.

He knew exactly what he was asking Wallace to sign up for.

Gibson Didn't Just Warn Wallace – He Acted on It

When cameras rolled on The Resurrection of the Christ in Rome last fall, Gibson gathered his entire cast and crew before the first shot and led them in a prayer for spiritual protection – invoking the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Michael the Archangel, and the apostles.

This wasn't a publicity stunt.

The sequel is not a straightforward retelling of Easter morning.

Gibson described the project to Joe Rogan as "an acid trip" – and meant it as a compliment.

The story opens before the Resurrection, moving through the exile of demons and the harrowing of hell before arriving at the glory of Easter morning.

Gibson has said he has "never read anything like" the scripts.

Wallace told Arroyo's audience they'll see things on screen nobody has ever seen – and that despite the supernatural scope, it will be the most orthodox telling of the Resurrection Christians have ever experienced.

What This Actually Means for Every Christian Who Sat Through 20 Years of Waiting

The Passion of the Christ opened in February 2004 without a single major studio behind it, made $83 million its first weekend, and went on to gross $610 million worldwide against a $30 million budget.

Hollywood told Gibson he was out of his mind.

Twenty-two years later, he just completed a two-part sequel that took six to eight years to write.

Gibson has called it "a major part of my life's work" and said it has "demanded everything" of him as a filmmaker and as a man.

Part One arrives May 6, 2027, on Ascension Day.

Part Two follows May 25, 2028.

No major studio funded it.

The secular press has barely covered it.

And the man directing it opened production with a prayer to St. Michael the Archangel because he genuinely believed the enemy would try to stop him.

They're going to mock this one too.

He doesn't care.

Sources:

  • Ashley Hume, "Resurrection of the Christ Writer Reveals Mel Gibson's Dark Spiritual Warning About Passion Sequel," Fox News, July 19, 2026.
  • "Mel Gibson Leads Spiritual Warfare Prayer Against Satan on Christ Film Set," Souls and Liberty, October 18, 2025.
  • "Bizarre Things That Happened on the Set of The Passion of the Christ," Looper, April 18, 2024.
  • "Mel Gibson's New Film on the Resurrection: A Metaphysical 'Acid Trip' Into the Supernatural," The Catholic Herald, February 11, 2026.
  • "Filmmaker Randall Wallace Talks Hollywood, 'Passion of the Christ' Sequel," The Baptist Paper, November 28, 2023.