Jim Caviezel claims when the Walt Disney Company tried to remove references to God in one of his films and mocked his Christian faith on set, he stood up against them in a big way.
Jim Caviezel is one of the few actors in Hollywood who openly professes his Christian beliefs. The Passion of the Christ star opened up about his encounters with anti-Christian sentiments while filming The Count of Monte Cristo in 2002.
Caviezel made allegations against Disney in a promotional video for his film Sound of Freedom. “When I did The Count of Monte Cristo, they wanted me to remove the ‘God’ from all of the script. True story,” Caviezel said. “All of a sudden, I’m reading the script — what happened to ‘God’?”
“I had to say no, I can’t do this. Right is right, wrong is wrong,” the actor informed Disney producers regarding eliminating “God” from the script. In reaction, he said that Disney employees involved in the production made fun of his Christian religion, asking, “So, you’re one of those?” Caviezel refused to back down, and God remained in the film.
Caviezel was referring to a critical sequence in the film in which his character, Edmond Dantes, slowly carves the phrase “God will give me justice” into the prison cell wall. The sequence, adapted from Alexandre Dumas’ novel, demonstrated how long Caviezel’s character wasted away in captivity. Edmond ultimately believes that God has a plan for his life, which is why he stays alive and succeeds in escaping prison.
The name “Monte Cristo” literally means “Mountain of Christ,” and it is intended to make a link between Edmond’s imprisonment and Christ’s agony on the Cross. Caviezel understood that his character’s Christian faith was crucial to the plot, just as it is to his own life. “We’ve got to be strong Christians like that,” the actor said about standing up to Disney, “to hold our ground when we have to. And say, ‘You know what, I’m not buying that product anymore.’”
Sound of Freedom stars Jim Caviezel and Oscar-winner Mira Sorvino. Caviezel plays Tim Ballard, a real-life U.S. government agent who quit his job at Homeland Security to rescue children from drug cartels and sex traffickers in Latin America. Sound of Freedom topped Disney’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny in ticket sales and made the film America’s top 4th of July movie for 2023.
For Americans who back Christian-based films, the Sound of Freedom behind-the-scenes story was reported as “glorious.” After Disney acquired 20th Century Fox in 2019, it shelved Sound of Freedom even though the movie was produced in 2018. It took the producers of Sound of Freedom five years to acquire the distribution rights back from Disney. Angel Studios, the company behind the worldwide hit The Chosen, acquired Sound of Freedom in 2023, and owns one of the most profitable independent movies in recent times.
There is a big lesson to be learned about what many Americans crave when it comes to entertainment. Films like Sound of Freedom which have storylines that speak to people’s hearts, and aren’t afraid to address matters of faith, will almost always be box-office successes. When Angel Studios added a bankable star like Jim Caviezel and a full-blown Oscar winner like Mira Sorvino, Americans rewarded the producers with one of the biggest hits of the year.
