For Jim Caviezel, who appears in Mel Gibson’s fiercely violent “The Passion of the Christ,” playing Jesus meant a world of agony.

We didn’t realize how realistic they were until the actor recently gave an interview in which he revealed the injuries he sustained while filming.

And, as a fervent Christian, it seemed that he relished every agonizing moment.

What transpired during the moment where he bears the cross was as follows:

“As I went down, the cross… it actually struck my head and buried my head in the sand. And I bit through my tongue. Now, in the tape, you’ll see streams of blood coming down from my lip. That’s actually my own blood.”

Throughout weeks of filming, Caviezel hung practically nude on a cross in bone-chilling winds. During a dramatization of the Sermon on the Mount, he was hit by lightning.

Carrying the cross was very uncomfortable for him as his AC joint in his shoulder was also injured.

“At this time, the shoulder is out and I was trying everything I had to get my arm over, and it looks like it’s the most extraordinary take because it looks like I’m cherishing our cross, which is our faith, and hugging it but in the most beautiful way. It wasn’t beautiful to me because it hurt like hell, my AC joint had been torn.”

During scenes depicting Christ’s scourging, a Roman torturer cut a 14-inch gash in Caviezel’s back.

“I had a fourteen-inch gash right on my back,” he said. “I walked out of the take and I fell down. But it’s an extraordinary experience because I got hit and it froze my diaphragm, which was like getting . . . the wind knocked out of you.”

That has to hurt! Caviezel believes that the suffering was worthwhile because the final result was “something beautiful that will last forever.”

He had previously turned down the part of Jesus in a play and two television projects, but he agreed this time because he sensed Gibson’s dedication to portraying the tale in its entirety.

“I didn’t look at it and go, ‘Gee, I’m Catholic, and I’m going to play Jesus,”’ Caviezel said. “The other times, I said no, not interested. Not unless you’re really going to go there. That’s where Mel and I both share the same common denominator. I want the absolute fullness of the truth, or I don’t want to do it at all.”

As we all know, the Braveheart star has been hard at work on The Passion of the Christ 2 for the past several years, with the intention of bringing Caviezel back to narrate the resurrection tale. Caviezel claims to have seen the most recent draft as well, revealing:

“It’s going to be a masterpiece. It’s gonna be the biggest film in world history, I believe it will be based on what I feel in my heart. It’s so imperative in this time. These films can’t be made now. The films they make are Marvel Comics movies. You’ll see Superman. You won’t see Jesus… I got to play the greatest superhero there ever was.”