The director of "Man Without a Face" and the Oscar-winning "Braveheart" has chosen to direct a story about the final hours of Christ's suffering for mankind. His script, "The Passion," will primarily focus on the betrayal, trial and death of Jesus, culminating with his graphic crucifixion and resurrection from the tomb. In truth, the way Gibson has chosen to tell his story is unique and downright daring.

The entire language of the film will be in Aramaic and Latin. Gibson is ardent about this point, "It will lend even more authenticity and realism to it." For those of you who haven't quite mastered the Aramaic language and assume there will be subtitles, here's the part that requires your faith -- no subtitles. In what could arguably be called either 'career suicide' or 'creative genius', Gibson has once again defied all Hollywood logic

The obvious question is why? Why would Mel Gibson of all people make a movie about Jesus in a dead language that no one can understand or read? Unabashed, Gibson is confident with his decision. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to transcend the language barriers with my visual storytelling; if I fail, I fail, but at least it’ll be a monumental failure.

“ And why does he feel so strongly about not using subtitles? “It would somehow spoil the effect that I want to achieve; it would alienate you and you’d be very aware that you were watching a film if you saw lettering coming up on the bottom of it ? and I want to present it in a way that is completely real.”

According to Entertainment Weekly, Gibson (47) is the third most powerful man in the entertainment business (behind Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg). With that position there tends to be a natural assumption that studios would be lining up to promote whatever project Gibson wants to do, right? Gibson reports they were less than thrilled. “My partners and I went searching for a studio to attach to the project, but no one would touch it.” He smiles when he states, “They all said, ‘Are you crazy? Why are you doing a Jesus movie in Aramaic?’ Obviously, nobody wants to touch something filmed in two dead languages, but I understand, because I would have rejected me too if I heard my pitch.” It’s a response and a rejection Gibson has learned to live with.

Together with his Icon partners/producers Bruce Davey and Steve McEveety, the team began the enormous task of bringing Gibson’s 10-year “labor of love” to reality. Gibson wrote his script with Ben Fitzgerald ("Wise Blood") using scripture taken directly from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, or as Gibson likes to refer to them, “four obscure writers.” He also used research from an old book in his library, “The Dolorous Passion,” by Anne Catherine Emmerich. It was a book he never knew he had until he reached for another book, and it literally fell into his hands. After years of writing, reworking the script and waiting for the right timing, Gibson was ready to make his ode to Christ.

“The Passion” stars Jim Caviezel ("The Count of Monte Cristo”, “Frequency") as Jesus, Romanian actress Maia Morgenstern ("Procust’s Bed") as his mother Mary, and Italian beauty Monica Bellucci ("Matrix Reloaded”, “Tears of the Sun") as Mary Magdalene. For obvious reasons Gibson had to look outside the Holy Land for a location and found what he was looking for in Italy.

“I chose Italy because so many people love it, and it’s a great country to work in. It’s also a big melting pot and has a huge and diverse talent pool.” The crucifixion scenes were filmed in a beautiful city in southern Italy called Matera, in which Pier Paolo Pasolini used the outskirts of the city to film his movie, “The Gospel According to St. Matthew” (1964). “Certain sections of the city are 2,000 years old: the architecture, the blocks of stone and the surrounding areas and rocky terrain added a vista and backdrop that we actually borrowed to create the backdrops for our lavish sets of Jerusalem. We relied heavily on the look that was there. In fact, the first time I saw it, I just went crazy because it was so perfect.”

On the outskirts of Rome, past the ancient ruins of the Roman Baths of Caracalla and the Catacombs, are the legendary Cinecitta studios. On the back lot, directly across from the decaying wooden sidewalks and faded storefront facades of Martin Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York,” sits the city of Jerusalem—or at least a 2 ? acre scaled-down replication of it. Gibson has created a massive set, complete with a temple, courtyard, a Praetorium, Pilate’s Palace and various smaller sets. It is a breathtaking spectacle of biblical proportions: giant columns, flights of stone steps, massive wooden doors, weathered Roman emblems, vendor’s canopies and pottery, replicating the architecture of an ancient world.

Inside the temple walls smoke fills the air, as a hue of gold washes the room where a cast and crew of hundreds wait for direction, as if posing for a painting. The handcrafted costumes are designed by the award-winning Maurizio Millenotti who paints the crowd like a detailed backdrop in various shades of beige, brown and black. Every beard, hairpiece and braid looks real because a team of expert makeup and hair artists have custom fit each person.

The massive sets are intricately designed by Production Designer Francesco Frigeri and Decorator Carlo Gervasi. And the special effects (SPFX) makeup and hair department were flown in from Los Angeles because of their unique ability to create what Gibson needed for the flagellation and crucifixion scenes. Many others contribute their talents to create Gibson’s biblical world. Gibson has spared no expense in bringing this visual masterpiece to the big screen and it shows

The violence in “The Passion” is what everyone seems to be talking about these days. Although Gibson feels apologetic for what Caviezel had to go through, ("I know Jim suffered, he separated his left shoulder and was in a lot of pain and discomfort, but he was very patient during the whole thing"), he maintains that giving a graphic depiction of what Jesus went through before and during the time he hung on the cross is what makes his portrayal realistic. “This is an event that actually happened. It occurred. I’m exploring it this way, I think, to show the extent of the sacrifice willingly taken by Jesus—the price he paid that is as much a part of what Jesus went through as the resurrection.”

Though the primary focus is on the last 12 hours Christ spent on this earth, Gibson has added other scenes to familiarize audiences with Jesus’ life and ministry. “Some of this is hard stuff. You can’t just go straight through and torture a guy for 90 minutes.” Gibson explains that he’ll use other scenes. “Like when he’s falling on the cross, Mary will flash back to when Jesus was a boy and fell down. I’m adding bits and pieces of The Last Supper and Jesus washing the apostles’ feet and other scenes, so emotionally I think flashbacks like that can really work and hopefully it will all gel together.”

Will people who perhaps don’t know the story of Christ be able to gather who he was and what his ministry was about from this movie? “I think it demands a certain knowledge of the story which I think many people have, but this is a slightly different way of telling it and I think it’s more poignant for that reason and then you don’t have to go through the entire Gospel. I mean it’s impossible to do all of his work on film—just dealing with the last twelve hours is a handful I’ll tell you!”

The significance of Aramaic being spoken in “The Passion” is that it will revisit the cross and the sacrifice Jesus made in Christ’s own language. Instead of the world getting another Hollywood production of “Americanized Christianity”, Gibson’s movie will provide the truest form of Christ’s message, without the propaganda. With powerful images and language, it will be a riveting and emotionally engaging story that will speak to most people. “A lot of people won’t dig it—not everybody’s going to like it but that’s okay. I’m ready for that. It’s done in the right spirit and that’s what counts,” Mel says with assuredness.

“My hope is that this movie has a tremendous message of faith, hope, love, forgiveness and a message of tremendous courage and sacrifice. My hope is that it will effect people on a very profound level and somehow change them and that message is a pretty good message to be pushing right now. There’s so much turmoil in the world today, on the brink of everybody at each others throats. I think usually when the world is tried in this way people usually start going back to something higher to fill a void in their souls, particularly if the earth is crying out in pain from all the suffering and fear that’s inflicted by war and hatred. For me, I don’t think there’s a better message you could put out there, than what’s in this movie.”

That message is truly Mel Gibson’s heart and passion.

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