God, Gibson and bearing crosses

Without question the oddest interview this writer has ever conducted was that with the very religious actor Jim Caviezel.

Every question asked was answered with a rambling, entirely irrelevant monologue about the virtues of Jesus, the sacredness of certain icons and the holiness of various Christian mystics. Now Jim has told the First Baptist Church of Orlando that Jesus Christ destroyed his career. We should elaborate. Caviezel claims that his decision to appear as God's son in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christturned Hollywood against him. Apparently Gibson warned Jim that such a development may, indeed, occur. The actor explained: "[Gibson] said, 'You'll never work in this town again.' I told him: 'We all have to embrace our crosses'." He went on: "Jesus is as controversial now as he has ever been. Not much has changed in 2,000 years."

Acknowledging Gibson’s recent misjudgments, Caviezel told the congregation: “Mel Gibson doesn’t need your judgment, he needs your prayers.”