Despite all the backlash and R rating, The Passion of The Christ went on to become a big hit at the box office with praise drawn towards the technical aspects of the film. It was nominated at the Academy Award ceremony in the Best Makeup, Cinematography and Background Score categories.
For makeup artist Christien Tinsley, the brief was clear -it had to look real. Considering that the canonical description of Christ’s crucifixion is replete with images of blood and gore, the final output, was expected to be appropriately horrendous.
Jim Caviezel, who survived a lightning attack while filming, underwent rigorous physical changes for this role. He donned a wig for the entirety of the shooting, and his nose prosthetic was also always in place every single day. The overall makeup process, Tinsley says, had nine stages on a daily basis for 25 days, and included wigs, prosthetics, a beard and even dentures. The prosthetics and gore created for the character had to ensure that the character was able to stay mobile despite the heavy layers added to his body.
A three-dimensional prosthetic was eventually formulated, based on the idea of temporary tattoos and then transferred to the actor’s skin via water. These prosthetics were attached to large paper sheets to stick them on to the actor’s skin. A special chair was mad for Jim so that the makeup crew could attach the temporary prosthetics onto this body all round at once. This brought down the time required for the makeup to two hours from eight hours. On days when the weather wasn’t suitable, Caviezel would simply return to his room and sleep with the makeup on.
Even with the best possible prosthetic methods, the results had scope for improvement. To the effect, Special effects and VFX producer Keith Vanderlaan was brought on board, and a combination of both prosthetics and makeup was sought. It was suggested that the scarring and lesions be highlighted using VFX techniques. The flagellation sequence utilized this combination to good effect. The gory makeup was already in place, the VFX techniques covered it with a layer of skin, and when the flagellum would make contact, the VFX skin would be shown ripping away to reveal the lesion underneath. The flogging was done against a green screen using a dummy model and the appropriately chosen shots were then superimposed upon the final cut. This also had the advantage of offering gravitas and natural light to the whole sequence.
All these efforts, coupled with Mel Gibson’s personal investment in the financing of the project, paid off as the film earned more than 600 million USD on a budget of 30 million USD.
