WHAT JIM CAVIEZEL WENT THROUGH PLAYING JESUS IN"PASSION OF CHRIST"

The man who played Jesus in Mel Gibson film "the passion of Christ" is a respectable actor with a respectable career. Many moviegoer have been stirred by the film, the Passion of Christ. But only a few select know what it took to make a film of such a great importance. This is the part 1 of the interview.
This is an interview with Scoot Ross of CBN
Scott Ross: How old were you when you played in the film?
Jim Caviezel (Jesus): When i accepted the role, i got a phone call from Mel. He said "Hi this is Mel." "Mel who?" For some reason, Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise- that was how i know them.I don't just know them by first name. He said, "Hey Jim, this is Mel, he starting taking about the movies and talking me out of the role.
Scott Ross: "Talking you out of it?,this is after he offered it to you?
Jim Caviezel: The next day, he said "I want you to be aware of what you are going to go through. You may never work again." He said that to me severally in public. I told him, "This is what i believe,Mel, we all have to carry our cross, i have to carry my cross, if we don't learn how to carry our crosses we all will be crushed under the weight of it. So let go and do the film." And we did it.
Scott Ross: How old were you?
Jim : i told Mel " it is eerie. My initials are J C and i am 33 years." That was it.
Scott: What was your initial gut response to it?
Jim: I was half exhilarated and half terrified, honestly, i found myself in this condition all the way through.
Scott: What did you bring to it, not just as an actor,but how do you prepare to play the Son of God?
Jim: This is a great question, how do you prepare?, by fire. Looking back there are two words, "unquenchable fire." What was hard was the physical, the suffering. Makeup time started from 2.00am and went down till 10.00am, that alone, the boredom, not just that, the sitting position was uncomfortable. After day in day out of this, plus the  hypothermia and also had a separated shoulders. It force me to pray sometimes i go to a place of something deep because i was going crazy.
Scoot: You said you went to pray, is that something you believed in prior to the part?,You are a believer?
Jim: Well there is no question that i believe. Why would you subject yourself to such persecution unless you know that that's the truth? And let me tell you what i was going through on that cross. Many people who looked up there, i may be playing Jesus, a lot of time i felt like i am Satan. I had obscenities wanting to come out of me, it was so cold, it was like a knife coming through me. I had hypothermia, on that very day i had hypothermia i was cold, i could barely utter the lines out. My mouth was shaking uncontrollable, my arms and legs went numb. I was suffocating on that cross. In the mean time you watch people have coffee and laugh. They were very indifferent of what i was going through on that cross.
Scott: The whipping and scourging are hard to watch because that went for a long time, i was literally counting the lashes, a lot of viewers turn away their face because they couldn't continue to look
Jim: You said something critical,people turn away their face away not to see it.; And what they are seeing is their own sin,so they could not bear to see it. It is difficult, sometimes to deal with your sin. The film was design so that you won't see yourself the way you want to see it but the way God want to see you.
Scott: What part of this film had the greatest affect on you. Is it possible to isolate a moment or time?
Jim: Oh boy!!, there is something that happening during the filming i can't even describe. I felt like a great presence fell inside me during the filming. The prayer that came to me was, "I don't want people to see me,but to see Jesus. That was what i wanted that anything.
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