Mel Gibson is apparently scouting locations for The Resurrection, the follow-up to his 2004 blockbuster The Passion of the Christ.
This piece of news came from the Italian-language publication ItalPress, which reported the actor, producer and director has met with Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela and checked out locations on the island he governs, Malta.
The publication says Gibson is heading up an 11-member team in conjunction with the Malta Film Commission for the sequel, which will reportedly have Jim Caviezel reprising his role as Jesus Christ. According to ItalPress, also are on the docket for Gibson and company are locations in Morocco, Italy and Israel.
Co-written and produced by Gibson, The Passion of the Christ was for a time the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time — that is, before Ryan Reynolds put on his Deadpool suit back in 2016, a fact Reynolds in character specifically mentions in 2018’s Deadpool 2.
Gibson’s film earned more than $612 million against a budget of around $30 million.
Janelle and Nicole Kidman in 2003 – Peter Carrette Archive/Getty Images
Nicole Kidman arrived at the Venice Film Festival in Italy on Sept. 7, only to turn around and head back home to Australia when she learned that her mother had passed away.
Janelle Ann Kidman had been in poor health since at least 2022, according to interviews the Oscar winner gave at the time, but the death of Kidman’s mother was evidently unexpected. She was 84.
Kidman announced her mother’s passing via her director Halina Reijn, who accepted Kidman’s Best Actress award at the festival for her work in the film Babygirl. According to video shot by Deadline, Reijn quoted the star saying, “Today, I arrived in Venice to find out shortly after, that my beautiful, brave mother Janelle Ann Kidman has just passed.”
At this, there was an audible gasp from the crowd.
“I am in shock and I have to go to my family,” Kidman’s statement continued.
Reijn continued to quote Kidman’s statement; in it, the actress said of her mother: “This award is for her. She shaped me, she guided me and she made me. I’m beyond grateful that I get to say her name to all of you through Halina. The collision of life and art is heartbreaking, and my heart is broken.”
Filmmaker Brady Corbet, who took the podium next to accept his Silver Lion award for his film The Brutalist, expressed his condolences to Kidman and her family.
The 26-year-old physician assistant, whose journey to finding love on the show ended with a heartbreaking finale, thanked fans for their support all season and shared how she is “still healing” from her experience.
“Thank you for opening your hearts to my story,” she said in an Instagram post on Thursday. “Being the first Asian American bachelorette has been a healing experience for me and I couldn’t be happier to watch my community come alive.”
“No matter where you are in your search for your identity, please remember you are worthy and you are exactly who you need to be,” she added.
During the After the Final Rose special on Tuesday, Tran revealed that Devin Strader, the man she’d proposed to on the Bachelorette finale back in May, had called off their engagement about a month ago.
Tran also came face-to-face with Strader in front of the live studio audience during the episode and confronted him about why after ending their engagement he went on to follow a former contestant on the previous season of The Bachelor, Maria Georgas, on Instagram.
In her post, which featured photos from the finale and her proposal to Strader, Tran said that her heart is “heavy grieving,” but that she has to “make room for forgiveness.”
“While emotions were high on stage, at the end of the day, I will always have love for the person I fell in love with and I am choosing to wish him the best in his journey of life and will always root for him,” she said.
She also acknowledged the “universal experience” of heartbreak, adding, “It is easier to have loved and lost to have never loved at all.”
