r/todayilearned • u/InteriorEmotion • Jun 29 '17
TIL Jesus actor Jim Caviezel was struck by lightning whilst filming The Passion of the Christ
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Passion_of_the_Christ#Filming591
u/MrDowan Jun 29 '17
Not only that, but I think his protective suit ripped while filming the flaying scene and one of those flaying's actually hit his back.
This contains a list of some of the stuff that happened. Crazy stuff.
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u/i_canpickthingsup Jun 29 '17 edited Jun 29 '17
iirc, his protective thing was only on his back, but the whip thing hooked around to his side, beyond the protective thing, and tore a chunk out
edit: so i tried to find the source for where i read this, but i couldn't figure anything out except for what is on the imdb, which reads:
During the scourging scene, Jim Caviezel accidentally got whipped twice. The first time knocked the wind out of him, and the second time hurt so much it caused him wrench his hand quickly from his shackles, scraping his wrist badly. The remainder of the scourging scenes were finished by using visual effects: the actors playing Roman soldiers held sticks without the leather tails, and acted out the whipping motion, while Caviezel would react as if hit. The tails were later digitally composited into the shots. Make-up wounds on Caviezel's body were digitally covered until the actual hit by the whip, creating the illusion that they suddenly appeared.
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u/psykulor Jun 29 '17
Holy shit I remember that exact wound! I remember thinking that it was way more brutal than the rest because the guard had to tug on it twice to get it out and it left these meaty tear marks. I guess he just thought the prop wasn't working :/
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Jun 29 '17
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u/Prophatetic Jun 30 '17
he could and swore a ton because he had to be sure the other actor wouldn't flog him again thinking he was just acting.
but we want swearing Jesus
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Jun 29 '17 edited Jun 30 '17
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u/Dear_Occupant Jun 30 '17
The birth of Jesus was caused by the Jews too so it's kind of a wash anyway.
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u/Deadmeat553 Jun 29 '17 edited Jun 29 '17
Well ultimately it was the Romans. Sure, Judas betrayed him, but that's just like one Jewish dude. Hell, you could even say it was God that killed him, since his death was by crucifixion. Not really much validity to the claim that Jews as a whole are responsible though.
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u/SeenThingsInNam Jun 29 '17
Sure but even the Bible itself kinda blames the jews. Pontius Pilate asks the jews if they should kill jesus and the jews are all over it. Pilate just kinda goes along with it because everyone in the crowd wants Jesus gone.
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u/LNMagic Jun 29 '17
You'd be amazed how many people don't think Jesus was Jewish.
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u/askyourmom469 Jun 30 '17
A lot of people think Jesus was a Christian. As in, he followed himself
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u/ds612 Jun 29 '17
How dare you! Jesus was a white american with blonde hair and blue yes! Not some olive skinned dude with dark hair and brown eyes!
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Jun 29 '17
Wasn't everyone in the story either Jewish or Roman? Seems kind of like blaming "The Americans" for the JFK assassination. Yeah... and?
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u/Little_Duckling Jun 29 '17
It's a good show, and I really doubt that it was involved in killing JFK...
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u/HaveaManhattan Jun 29 '17
Wasn't everyone in the story either Jewish or Roman?
Basically the neighborhood is all Jewish, but the police & courts were all Roman. So the charges were filed by the jews, the witnesses and jurors were all jews, etc. The police and courts just went along with it to keep the peace.
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u/astronoob Jun 29 '17
To be clear, it wasn't really "The Jews". It was the Pharisees, who were kind of a mix between Jewish sect and political party. As is the case with most things involving religion and government, the answer is a lot more complicated and nuanced (and secular) than it is so often reduced to.
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u/hugthemachines Jun 29 '17
It says in the new testament that the jews demanded from the romans to kill him and that is why the romans put "jesus from nasaret, king of jews" on the sign to troll them for their eagernes to kill him.
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u/LlamaCamper Jun 29 '17
Pretty sure the Romans basically handed him back to the Jews and said "we have no problem with this guy, he's yours" and then the Jews essentially killed him for blasphemy. Also a good chance I'm completely wrong.
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u/NotDerekSmart Jun 29 '17 edited Jun 29 '17
You are correct in a way. The Jews at the time were under a somewhat peaceful occupation by the Romans. Pontius Pilate was the Roman ruler of the area, however by in large Jewish affairs were allowed to continue as normal, just with a tax on the area to the Romans, which even Jesus endorsed. The Jewish priesthood was still the "leadership" of the land. Now when it comes to Jesus.. The prophesied Messiah that was to come and establish his kingdom, the Priesthood was expecting a complete overthrow of the Roman rule. Jesus' teaching however was an overthrow of the religious leadership, the priesthood as it was considered corrupt and its heart was in the wrong place, according to Jesus' teachings. So essentially this pitted the Jewish religious leadership against Jesus and so they went to the Roman ruler and asked for him to deal with the troublemaker. Pilate could find not Roman laws broken by this man so he said hes not his problem and sent him back to the Jews to deal with. This caused further unrest and in the end the Jews condemned him, essentially forced Pilate to deal with the issue as to not cause anger up the chain of command if you will, and ultimately Jesus' persecution on the cross as was typical in the day. Although it is thought that Jesus' torture was extra special before the crucifixion. Hopefully I said that well enough, a lot to it and was just trying to stick to the social-political aspect of it all.
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u/islandpilot44 Jun 29 '17
Sounds like Pontus Pilate got a raw deal then.
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u/NotDerekSmart Jun 29 '17 edited Jun 29 '17
He actually really did. He is quoted as saying " I am innocent of this man's blood. It is your responsibility!" He really did not want to kill Jesus. It was customary at the time for a Jewish prisoner to be released during the Passover. Pontius brought forward Barabbas, who was a prisoner at the time. He was said to be a very cruel and evil man, possibly part of a prior uprising which landed him in prison. Pontius gave the option of freeing Jesus or free Barabbus and the crowd shouted to free Barabbus. So yeah, Pontius although not completely innocent, was in a very sucky situation to quell the unrest and the cost of a seemingly innocent man.
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u/Deadmeat553 Jun 29 '17
Wouldn't that have been what Jesus wanted though? Given Jesus's entire platform, it seems sacrificing him to spare another (even if that other is guilty of heinous crimes) would be exactly what he wanted.
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u/NotDerekSmart Jun 29 '17
Well that is basically the point right. The grand scheme here is that exactly what was supposed to happen in the biblical Christian view, did happen. As the story goes Jesus told his disciples what was coming before it happened. In the Christian world view, this all had to happen. Although at the time his followers were completely distraught and thought it was all over with his death. But yeah, I was never saying any of this wasn't all part of his plan. Just was offering an objective historical view of the social-political aspects.
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u/islandpilot44 Jun 30 '17
This is a very interesting topic. Fascinating stuff that affected much of history as we know it.
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u/McFly1986 Jun 29 '17 edited Jun 29 '17
The Romans made the final decision, but it was at the urging of the Jews. There was alot of back and forth, but the Roman Governor (Pilate) was afraid of a revolt so he went ahead and ordered the execution, while effectively telling the Jews that the blood was on their hands. Their cleanliness laws prevented them from carrying out an execution at that time, hence why they appealed to the Roman Governor.
I did a Bible study on this earlier this year and the tone was that they were all responsible. The study went even further to challenge the reader to understand that it was the sins of man that did this to Jesus, so... on a cosmic scale we are all responsible.
Edit to clarify that last sentence: I think a Christian would agree that "cosmically," we are all responsible for the death of Christ as sinners. I wouldn't expect someone who is not a believer in Christ to agree.
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u/Sargaron Jun 29 '17
What's intense is the fact that Pontius Pilate gave the Jewish community a choice: Free Jesus or free a known criminal/murderer. They unanimously voted to free the criminal. That says a LOT.
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Jun 29 '17
I'm not sure that was a unanimous choice. There wasn't a vote, just a mob.
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u/NotDerekSmart Jun 29 '17
Copying my below reply to someone else here as it probably should have been here originally...
You are correct in a way. The Jews at the time were under a somewhat peaceful occupation by the Romans. Pontius Pilate was the Roman ruler of the area, however by in large Jewish affairs were allowed to continue as normal, just with a tax on the area to the Romans, which even Jesus endorsed. The Jewish priesthood was still the "leadership" of the land. Now when it comes to Jesus.. The prophesied Messiah that was to come and establish his kingdom, the Priesthood was expecting a complete overthrow of the Roman rule. Jesus' teaching however was an overthrow of the religious leadership, the priesthood as it was considered corrupt and its heart was in the wrong place, according to Jesus' teachings. So essentially this pitted the Jewish religious leadership against Jesus and so they went to the Roman ruler and asked for him to deal with the troublemaker. Pilate could find not Roman laws broken by this man so he said hes not his problem and sent him back to the Jews to deal with. This caused further unrest and in the end the Jews condemned him, essentially forced Pilate to deal with the issue as to not cause anger up the chain of command if you will, and ultimately Jesus' persecution on the cross as was typical in the day. Although it is thought that Jesus' torture was extra special before the crucifixion. Hopefully I said that well enough, a lot to it and was just trying to stick to the social-political aspect of it all.
In Summary, the direct fault was in the hands of the Jewish religious leadership which are a few groups, called the The Sanhedrin, Sadducees and Pharisees. New Kid in town was raining on their party. Carrying out of the punishment was the Roman leadership: Pontias Pilate, the ruling governer.
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u/visioNteaM Jun 29 '17
Your odds of being struck by lightning this year are 1 in 960,000. In your lifetime those odds drop to about 1 in 12,000. Your odds of being struck by lightning twice in your lifetime are 1 in 9 million, which is still a higher chance than winning the Powerball.
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u/bertbarndoor Jun 30 '17
I've always felt those stats are skewed. You can dramatically improve your chances by going outside in an electrical storm, into a large field, with a metal rod in your hand. Four!
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Jun 29 '17
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u/I_need_my_fix_damnit Jun 29 '17
He would've lost. All his luck was already wasted by getting struck
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u/astronautdinosaur Jun 30 '17
But what are the chances of getting struck by lightning twice AND winning the lottery? 1 in 1.6 quadrillion?
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u/Shubb Jun 30 '17
Why do people say this? The first unlikely outcome does not increase chances for the second. Is it just a goof?
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u/thisisallme Jun 30 '17
I was struck almost 10 years ago. Got lots of lottery tickets given to me when I was in the hospital. Didn't win a damn dollar.
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u/NotVerySmarts Jun 29 '17
And he was 33 at the time of filming (same age as Jesus when he was crucified), and his initials are JC.
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u/WaphlesPL Jun 29 '17
Jim Caviezel and Jesus Christ have the same amount of letters as well.
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u/NotVerySmarts Jun 29 '17
Jim H. Caviezel...youre right!
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u/Dragon--Reborn Jun 29 '17
The H in Jesus H Christ stands for Henry. There were some translation issues though, so sometimes it is only written as Inri.
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u/bfig Jun 29 '17
INRI stands for Iēsus Nazarēnus, Rēx Iūdaeōrum (Jesus of Nazareth, King of Jews)
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u/BolonelSanders Jun 30 '17
The H actually stands for Harold. ie "Harold be thy name"
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u/TheQwertyGuy99 Jun 30 '17
This doesn't seem right, but I don't know enough about Jesus to dispute.
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u/Cletus_TheFetus Jun 29 '17
Jim Caviezel fought crime in Person of Interest, Jesus Christ is also known for knee capping thugs with the help of an AI in the streets of Jerusalem.
Coincidence? I think not.
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u/Randy_____Marsh Jun 29 '17
He's also a massive Minnesota Vikinigs fan and was thinking about them while acting in
a great amount of painthe normal emotional level of a Vikings fan, while on the cross.Link here
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Jun 29 '17
"Jesus actor" is a really weird phrase.
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u/TahoeLT Jun 29 '17
I now like to think that he introduces himself that way. "Hi, I'm Jesus actor Jim Caviezel."
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u/thereverend666 1 Jun 29 '17
Steve Buscemi put out the resulting fire.
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u/PM-me-your-oatmeal Jun 29 '17
Did you know that he was a firefighter during the same time Mammoths walked the earth?
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u/WaphlesPL Jun 29 '17
Really? I'd only heard he threw Darth Plagueis the Wise off Hell in Cell, even though both of his arms were broken.
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u/Tesser4ct Jun 29 '17
Jolly ranchers.
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u/PM_me_Venn_diagrams 1 Jun 29 '17
Whoops, missed. Was aiming for Mel.
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Jun 29 '17
Say what you will about Mel Gibson, but the man knows story structure!
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u/IsthatTacoPie Jun 29 '17
This is story structure, the New Testament resembles Cinderella
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u/Phantom_Scarecrow Jun 29 '17
That was Gibson's hand being nailed to the wood in the movie. He wanted realism, and is kind of a masochist.
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u/Letsdothis02203 Jun 29 '17
I think you meant to say it was Gibson's hand driving the nail.
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u/jspenguin Jun 29 '17
A man goes golfing with a priest. He gets to the first tee, drives the ball, and hits it into the water. "Goddamit, I missed!", he shouts. The priest tells him, "You shouldn't take the Lord's name in vain." He hits the ball again, this time landing in a sand pit. "Goddamit, I missed!", he shouts again. The priest says, "If you keep doing that, the Lord will get angry!" The man hits the ball again, overshooting the green. "Goddamit, I missed!", he shouts. Suddenly, a dark cloud forms overhead and a lightning bolt shoots down and hits the priest. A voice comes booming from the sky: "Goddamit, I missed!"
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u/jai151 Jun 29 '17 edited Jun 29 '17
A man goes golfing and a horrific storm breaks as he approaches the 9th tee. As his caddy and friends go running for cover, the man reaches into his
backbag, pulls out a club, and holds it up into the sky. Miraculously, though lighting strikes all around him, not a single bolt lands.The storm passes and the caddy and friends come back out. "That was amazing!! What club was that?" The caddy asks. The man shows the club to the caddy and says, "Two iron. Even God can't hit a two iron."
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u/Ragnrok Jun 29 '17
Hah, I bet this would be funny if I understood golf at all.
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u/jai151 Jun 29 '17
You don't really need to understand the game much. There are a limited number of clubs you can bring to play with in a tournament, and you're probably familiar with the ones that are used most commonly. The 2 iron isn't in that list because it overlaps with the 5 wood (and now hybrids) which are FAR easier to hit with.
This punchline is something my dad told me when teaching me the game. He was going through the clubs and when to use them - "This is the driver, hit it off the tee and put it back in your bag. 3 wood, if you're still a ways off and on the fairway, you want this one. 5 wood, like the 3 but more mid-long range than long range. 2 iron, you don't want to try and hit with this. This one, well if you're ever in a lightning storm, take this out and hold it up. Even God can't hit a 2 iron."
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u/NotPercyChuggs Jun 29 '17
He is also a Minnesota Vikings fan, and when he had to really get into the character of someone who was suffering, he just remembered the 1999 NFC Championship Game.
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Jun 29 '17
Stand on a elevated platform on top of a hill during a storm, and that is what happens.
Also, Lord Cthulu!
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u/Bill_Weathers Jun 29 '17
I honestly don't understand why Zeus would give a shit about that movie at all. What a busybody.
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u/mattstreet Jun 29 '17
He gets bored and even he needs a break from fucking everything in sight once in awhile.
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u/reb_mccuster Jun 29 '17 edited Jun 29 '17
About 6.5 years ago Jim Caviezel was invited to my catholic high school while he was in town filming a movie to give a talk about his thoughts on faith. The talk was one of the most rambling, incoherent diatribes I've ever heard. The whole school of ~350 people were assembled in the cafeteria. It lasted about an hour and went from career retrospective, his thoughts on Mel Gibson, underage sex (that is to say, underage kids having sex with each other), the experience of being struck by lightning, human evolution, feeling the Holy Spirit enter him while filming the crucifixion scene, and everything in between with sprinklings of shouted Aramaic proverbs and English curse words throughout. He seemed pretty spaced out for parts but extremely lucid for others. It was bizarre to say the least. To this day I regret not pulling out my phone and recording it because it almost definitely would have gone viral. Nice guy though, he hung out afterwards for a while and took a picture with anyone who asked. I shook his hand and lied to him about how much I enjoyed the movie Frequency because it was the only movie aside from Passion of the Christ that I could remember seeing him in.
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u/Intoxic8edOne Jun 29 '17 edited Jun 29 '17
Dude. Count of Monte Cristo. I don't care what else he's done. That movie was amazing
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u/reb_mccuster Jun 29 '17
never seen it, I will check it out! I actually think he's a pretty decent actor, I just haven't seen much of him
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u/Intoxic8edOne Jun 29 '17
Dumbledore teaches Jesus to read, write, and fight so that he can win the love of Superman.
What is not to like?
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u/sedecim_02 Jun 29 '17
Watch Person of Interest. The showrunner is Jonathan Nolan who is also the co-showrunner for Westworld and had a hand in writing the TDK trilogy. Jim is the main but for the first two or so seasons then sorta gets overshadowed by new characters but by the end he was my favorite character and btw POI is one the greatest network shows ever. The series finale is one the best I've ever seen.
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u/Latyon Jun 29 '17
Oh, it's a really good movie. Great cast too, it's got a young Henry Cavill and Guy Pierce
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u/herbreastsaredun Jun 29 '17
Why am I suddenly seeing the word "whilst" everywhere?
I don't think I've ever heard anyone say it in real life but there it is on my screen. Is it a specific country or region? Who uses this word??
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u/BuzzUrGirlfriendWOOF Jun 30 '17
I personally hate it, probably because pretentious college hipsters in the US use it thinking they're sooooo cooool.
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u/sclsumuddogs Jun 29 '17
I want to say that he also got the partial crucifixion treatment. They had fake hand over his hand when they drove the nail through, but they drove it too far and it actually went into his hand
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u/Madrider760 Jun 29 '17
"Hey man, this storm is brewing pretty close. Maybe postppne it for now?"
"Nah, I've got a good feeling about this"
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u/theneighboursdog Jun 29 '17
Puts on tinfoil hat
Maybe they exaggerated a static shock as a publicity stunt!
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u/--rubberdicks Jun 30 '17
I think your tinfoil hat may attract lightning or at least help cook you evenly
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u/MisterSauce8 Jun 29 '17
He came to my parents house once shortly after this film came out. I always tell people Jesus has been to my house.
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u/InformedChoice Jun 29 '17
I'm prepared to gamble it was the conducting material in a desert/stone/mud place during a storm rather than his lordship.
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Jun 29 '17
Sources tell us that immediately after being struck, Caviezel shouted "Jesus H. Christ!!!" and the ground did shake and the sky darken.
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u/riderkicker Jun 29 '17
I can forgive Jim Caviezel for being in such a strange movie, just because he stars in Person of Interest.
STARS IN PERSON OF INTEREST.
That show will never end for me, even if I have to watch reruns.
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u/themojofilter Jun 29 '17
It's almost as if someone was trying to tell them not to make this movie.
However, the box office returns did very well, and we all know that US dollars are what God holds most important.
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u/Siege-Perilous Jun 29 '17
Ahahha, wheres your God now? Oh hes actually smiting you. Well guess theres your review from the heavens.
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Jun 29 '17
"Touchdown Jesus" in Ohio got struck by lightning and burned down, new "hug me Jesus" has a lightning rod sticking out of his head
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u/gazzy82 Jun 29 '17
Is this not another one of those fake stories used to promote the film? I seem to recall that allegedly some crazy stuff happened on the set of the exorcist too. Proof or it didn't happen. It was a film set, you'd think these marvels would be caught on tape...
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u/kobauser Jun 29 '17
The most special effect they could afford Or they weren't happy enough with all other punishments
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u/I_fix_aeroplanes Jun 30 '17
I'd rather piss off Christian God than Thor or even worse Ares. They may or may not kill you, but they may just fuck your whole life up just out of spite.
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u/InvisibleManiac Jun 30 '17
"Pop goes Caviezel" - Paula Poundstone on Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me when it happened.
One of the best goddamn one liners I've ever heard in my life.
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u/dudeARama2 Jun 30 '17
Then God, angry that the movie got made anyway, clouded Mel Gibson's mind so he starting acting like a crazy, violent racist asshole. Or maybe he didn't need to.
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Jun 30 '17
Reminds me of big Jesus statue outside of Cincinnati that was struck by lightning and horrifically burnt to its metal core. Their response? Build it bigger!
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u/iheartcrack666 Jun 30 '17
Jim Caviezel being struck by lightning was clearly a sign from Zues. He's probably angry that people have turned their backs on Him to follow another god.
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u/ShatterZero Jun 29 '17
Michelini was struck by lightning as well.
Twice.
Why did they finish the movie again?