Quentin Tarantino might have had a different reaction to Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ than most people. While speaking on the Bret Easton Ellis Podcast, Tarantino recalled watching the biblical epic and…getting turned on during the scenes in which the Romans brutalize Jesus. Okay.
Quentin Tarantino Explains His Reaction to The Passion of the Christ
“I had this moment when I was watching the movie. You’re just seeing this guy getting as f***ed up as you’ve ever seen a lead character in a movie get f***ed up before,” Tarantino said. “There’s this one scene, which is almost as bad as anything that happens later, when he’s whipped with the sticks, the riding whips, by the Roman soldiers, and they really kind of play it out before it starts happening. He’s tied there; it’s going to be bad, and they’re motherf***ers. I mean, they just look like the worst cops you’ve ever seen in your life. And they’re testing it out, and they’re passing it around — you’re like, ‘Oh, my God, this is gonna be f—ing terrible.’ And he’s stretching it out, stretching — and then it starts happening.“
Tarantino continued, “And then it’s like wham. And you feel it. And then it’s another one, wham. And like, three, four, five times, and you feel every f***ing blow. By the sixth blow, I traded places. And I was now a Roman. And I started getting kind of turned on by the beating. But I’m not Jesus getting beat. … I became the Roman, and all of a sudden the whipping. I started getting the rush of that. And I couldn’t believe I was feeling that. But I was feeling it.“
Bret Easton Ellis responded with, “I react to violence I think differently than you do.“
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Tarantino added that he met Mel Gibson a few times and told him about his unique reaction. “He looked at me like I was a f***ing nut,” he said. “Of course, he doesn’t understand where I’m coming from. And I don’t know if anyone else will.” Tarantino admitted that it sounds like he’s “just being perverse,” but “extreme violence is just funny to me.” As a whole, he found The Passion of the Christ to be an “extremely enjoyable experience,” and Gibson did a “tremendous directorial job.“
When Will the Sequel to The Passion of the Christ be Released?
Gibson is in the midst of shooting The Resurrection of the Christ, which will actually be split into two parts, with Part One set for release on March 26, 2027 (Good Friday), and Part Two will follow on May 6, 2027 (Ascension Day). Jim Caviezel was initially expected to return as Jesus, with some digital trickery being employed to de-age him, but as production began, it was revealed that the role had been recast. Jaakko Ohtonen (Vikings: Valhalla) will star as Jesus alongside Mariela Garriga (Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning) as Mary Magdalene. We’ll have to stay tuned for Tarantino’s reaction to that one.
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Source:
The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast
