Mel Gibson is in Italy getting ready to shoot his “The Ardour of the Christ” sequel that, similar to the unique, will make use of the traditional southern Italian city of Matera the place he has been welcomed by the nation’s Tradition Minister Alessandro Giuli.

As beforehand introduced, Gibson’s “The Resurrection of the Christ,” which is being produced by Gibson, Bruce Davey, and their Icon Productions banner with Lionsgate because the studio companion, is ready to kick off manufacturing in August at Italy’s Cinecittà studios that may function the primary hub for Gibson’s follow-up to his 2004 biblical blockbuster.

Giuli, a member of Italy’s right-wing authorities, on Thursday instructed Italian reporters that he met with Gibson, who’s one in all U.S. President Donald Trump’s “particular ambassadors” to Hollywood, for “a pleasant memento photograph with a handshake,” plus an alternate of pleasantries, “in an effort to encourage main Italian and worldwide productions to proceed to work on this prime location for world cinema that’s Matera,” the minister added.

Matera, the place Gibson in 2004 shot the majority of “The Ardour of the Christ” exteriors is a Unesco World Heritage website identified for its prehistoric whitewashed caves which lately has attracted a number of different main Hollywood productions together with parts of the twenty fifth James Bond installment “No Time to Die” MGM’s 2016 “Ben Hur” redo and Warner Bros’s “Surprise Girl.” 

Gibson has additionally been noticed scouting different historic Southern Italian rural places, together with Ginosa, identified for its church buildings which might be carved into the rock, Gravina Laterza, and Altamura.

Jim Caviezel is predicted to return to play Jesus in “The Resurrection” whereas Maia Morgenstern, who performed Jesus’ mom in “The Ardour,” and Francesco De Vito, who portrayed Peter, are additionally believed to be on board, in keeping with IMDB.