Article: Extreme Jesus If it wasn't going to be done right, to the violent 'fullness of the truth,' actor Jim Caviezel wasn't interested in portraying Christ.

LOS ANGELES -- Playing Jesus meant a world of torment for Jim Caviezel, who stars in Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ."

Caviezel dangled nearly naked on a cross in bone-chilling winds through weeks of filming. He was struck by lightning during a re- creation of the Sermon on the Mount. An actor playing a Roman torturer cut a 14-inch gash in Caviezel's back during scenes of Christ's scourging.

He dislocated his shoulder carrying the cross, caught pneumonia and a lung infection, endured cuts, scrapes and backaches from the chains he bore.

A devout Roman Catholic, Caviezel, 35, would not have had it any other way.

He previously had turned down the role of Jesus in a play and two TV ...

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