'Passion of the Christ' 2 news: Mel Gibson working on movie sequel

Hollywood actor and filmmaker, Mel Gibson, is currently working on a sequel to the biggest independent film of all time, "The Passion of the Christ."

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Academy Award nominee and scriptwriter Randall Wallace confirmed on Thursday, June 9, that he and Gibson are currently working on a storyline about Jesus' resurrection which would be the sequel for "The Passion of the Christ."

Wallace, who gained prominence from writing Oscar's 1995 best picture "Braveheart," claims that the story of resurrection is his specialty. He also happens to have taken a religion major at Duke University.

"I always wanted to tell this story," Wallace shared with The Hollywood Reporter. "'The Passion' is the beginning and there's a lot more story to tell," he added.

Although they are still in the early stages of script writing, Wallace admits that several financers have already expressed interest in investing in the project. Considered as the most successful independent film to date, the 2004 movie with a $30 million production budget has earned $612 million.

"It's too early to talk money," said Wallace, adding, "This is such a huge and sacred subject."

On why such a huge success took more than a decade to take on a sequel, Wallace revealed that he and Gibson were only convinced to take on the project after the growing demand by Christians.

"The evangelical community considers 'The Passion' the biggest movie ever out of Hollywood, and they kept telling us that they think a sequel will be even bigger," he explained.

Although Gibson's spokesperson refused to comment, the actor/director's surprise appearance at a graduation ceremony at Liberty University last month was largely responsible for causing the rumors. It's during the said event that he reportedly spoke about his plans of creating the sequel.

Following the industry boycott for his anti-Semitic remarks made worse by charges of physical violence from former girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva, Gibson has been out of Hollywood's grace and favor for the longest time.