evidence: Jim Caviezel: ‘All of a sudden, I wasn’t popular anymore just for playing Jesus’ ‘Sound of Freedom’ is the surprise of the summer, a film that embodies conservative ideals and features an actor who fearlessly embraces his faith even when it jeopardizes his career "You’ll never work in this town again," Mel Gibson warned Jim Caviezel after he accepted the role of Jesus in The Passion of the Christ (2004). Caviezel told this story to the congregation of First Baptist Church of Orlando. His response to Gibson was just as resolute: "We all have our own cross to bear." Gibson’s prediction was only partially accurate. Two decades later and despite some career setbacks, Caviezel now stars in the summer’s most controversial surprise hit film. [...] The film has been boosted by an advertising campaign launched by the far right, led by Donald Trump, who sponsored a Sound of Freedom screening at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey on July 19. Caviezel is backed by Mel Gibson and right-wing figure Steve Bannon, who recently interviewed him on his War Room podcast. "It [adrenochrome] has some mystical qualities to make you look younger," repeated Caviezel during the interview.