Jesus might’ve taken a serious beating in the 2004 Mel Gibson epic The Passion of the Christ, but the actor who played him didn’t exactly get off scot-free himself. While filming the final shot in the movie back in 2003, Jim Caviezel, who starred as Jesus, was struck by lightning, along with production assistant Jan Michelini, who’d also been struck earlier in the shoot. Producer Steve McEveety described the second incident to Variety, saying, “I’m about a hundred feet away from them when I glance over and see smoke coming out of Caviezel’s ears.”
Though it was reported at the time that neither Caviezel nor Michelini were badly hurt, that didn’t end up being true in Caviezel’s case. The effects of the lightning strike eventually led to two different heart surgeries for the actor, along with “lots of medication.” It wasn’t until the second procedure in 2014 that Caviezel says his problems were “finally corrected.” However, even that wasn’t without its hiccups.
Jim Caviezel Was Struck by Lightning While Playing Jesus, Leading to Years of Heart Problems
Despite crediting the 2014 surgery with saving his life, he explained to Shawn Ryan in 2023 that it, ironically enough, killed him as well—temporarily, that is. “I died on the operating table,” Caviezel revealed. “They brought me back. But I was supposed to be here,” he continued. “The reason why I brought that up is I felt incredible peace and love. That’s waiting for us.”
Caviezel went on to describe his brush with death as “amazing,” and compared the experience to cracking an egg. “And then it just came out, and I was dead, and I didn’t have to breathe anymore,” he recalled. Although Caviezel remembered the dying part being painless, he said that all changed when the doctors were finally able to revive him. You can listen to Caviezel recount the story for yourself in the video above.
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