What made The Passion of the Christ a hit?: In the 1950s, the popularity of the “religious pictures” genre was at its peak, with Hollywood studios making big-budget Biblical adaptations featuring lush production values and big stars. However, half a century later the genre had long since degenerated into cut-rate affairs starring Tinseltown has-beens and never-would-bes. So when Mel Gibson, at the time not only one of Hollywood’s biggest stars but also an Oscar-winning filmmaker, decided to leverage his considerable clout to make a movie about Christ’s crucifixion- and in two dead languages, no less- most showbiz insiders declared the project to be an epic folly.
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