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RD: Such as when you cut away to a memory of Mary's, when Christ as a little boy falls and she runs to him. You took us out of the narrative to go back in time to a moment of love.Gibson: That's what the film is about. It's about the greatest expression of love. No greater love has a man that he would lay down his life for his friends.
RD: You did the film in the original languages of the time. Christ's and Mary's dialogue is in Aramaic. Will there be subtitles?
Gibson: I thought that it would probably be more effective in its original languages. It gave me an extra impetus to have the visual aspect of the film be very strong, so that it wasn't as dependent on the spoken word. And I find that the film has a tremendous amount of clarity because of that. But I think the subtitles enhance it. Preaching to the choir is one thing, but there are many people that don't know the story. And even people who do know the story might get a little confused.
RD: What are you trying to do with this movie? Are you trying to make an artistic statement? Are you trying to proselytize?
Gibson: Well, what I see in this story -- and there are no other stories quite like it -- is faith, hope, love and forgiveness. And I think we're desperately in need of those things in the world. I think we're out of control. There's genocide happening in places that we rarely even focus on. There are wars. The guys here are dying over there. The guys over there are dying because of the guys here. I mean, it's crazy.
RD: And how does the film fit into that?
Gibson: I think it displays the remedy for it.
RD: And what is that remedy?
Gibson: Faith, hope, love and forgiveness. I think anybody that sees this will have a strong reaction to it, positive or negative. I hope that it's received in the right spirit. My detractors would say that it's going to promote hatred. I disagree. I think that's utter nonsense. The absurdity of that staggers me.
RD: Is this film the great work of your life? Is it the culmination of your career?
Gibson: It's taken a lot of my time and all my talents and energies. I think it's definitely a benchmark moment for me in an artistic sense.
RD: Are you going to take a little time off after this?
Gibson: I love working. I might take a couple weeks and reload, then go off and do something else, and hopefully it'll be light and funny and nobody'll be angry at me.
RD: Give me the headline you want to see on the biggest paper in America the day after The Passion opens.
Gibson: War ends.
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