A backlash has reportedly been brewing against Polish actress Kasia Smutniak being cast as Mary in Mel Gibson’s upcoming The Resurrection of the Christ due to her pro-abortion activism.
The backlash began in Smutniak’s native country of Poland by “far-right Catholic groups,” according to Variety.
“Polish media are reporting that supporters of the country’s conservative pro-life Law and Justice party (PiS) have written to Gibson’s Icon Productions banner to protest Smutniak’s casting, citing her support for the Strajk Kobiet (Women’s Strike) movement — the silhouette of which is a suffragette with a red lightning bolt — that has been behind a nationwide campaign against Poland’s strict abortion laws,” noted the outlet.
Mel Gibson has issued no comment on the matter. The actor-filmmaker has been outspoken conservative in Hollywood for close to three decades, working with multiple talents across the political spectrum, with stars Jodie Foster, Robert Downey Jr., and Andrew Garfield publicly befriending him despite his past controversies. Smutniak has issued no statement denouncing Gibson’s views.
As Breitbart News reported, The Resurrection of the Christ recast all principal characters from its 2004 predecessor The Passion of the Christ, with Finnish actor Jaakko Ohtonen replacing Jim Caviezel as Jesus and Cuban actress Mariela Garriga replacing Monica Belucci as Mary Magdalene. A source close to the production said Gibson had initially considered using digital de-aging to keep the original stars but ultimately decided against it.
“They would have had to do all this CGI stuff, all this digital stuff — de-aging and all that — that would have been very costly,” the source said.
As Variety noted, fans of the original The Passion of the Christ expressed no misgivings with actress Monica Belucci playing Mary Magdalene despite her outspoken support of abortion.
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