Shortly after graduating he was cast in the lead role of Giovanni de Medici in ‘The Profession of Arms’, which swept the 2002 David di Donatello Awards with nine wins, including Best Film.

It led to his career in Italian cinema and television and he went on to play John opposite Jim Caviezel and Monica Bellucci in ‘The Passion of the Christ’, which grossed $612million globally.

He was expected to be involved in the long-rumoured sequel if or when it started shooting.

Mel, 67, has previously mentioned the second film, titled ‘The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection’ has long been in the pipeline, and recent reports say filming could finally start in spring 2023.

The ‘Lethal Weapon’ star said during an interview with Pastor Greg Laurie at the SoCal Harvest Crusade in California: “Of course, that is a huge undertaking, and you know, it’s not the Passion 2. It’s called ‘The Resurrection’.

“Of course, that’s a very big subject and it needs to be looked at because we don’t want to just do a simple rendering of it – you know, read what happened.

“But in order to read it, experience and explore probably deeper meanings of what it’s about, it’s going to take some doing and Randall Wallace (the screenwriter who also penned ‘Braveheart’) is up to the task.

“He is also, as well as a brilliant writer, he is a great director. He directed ‘We Were Soldiers’ and ‘Heaven is for Real’ and stuff. So, he is a good writer and director.” source