Mel Gibson, star and director of many an action film, has taken on a new challenge. Gibson, a devout Roman Catholic, felt a compulsion to produce the most accurate film depiction yet of the life of Christ, so accurate the characters speak in Aramaic. Gibson has used his considerable clout to make it happen along with the financing of about 25 million dollars. When Gibson was thanked for producing the film he said, "I was afraid not to." To keep in the right frame of mind, Gibson went to mass daily. The film star went on to recount that many people working on the film, including some agnostics were converted as a result of thinking on what they were depicting in the movie. There is indeed a power in the person of Christ. People may criticize the church and even the Bible. Rare is the person who will say a bad word about Jesus.
-Michael Shannon, Preaching September/October 2003