Gibson urged to make movie about St. Francis of Assisi

What will be Mel Gibson’s next project after the highly successful “The Passion of the Christ”?

According to a report in The Christian History & Biography, is could be called “The Man of the Passion” about the life of history’s greatest imitator of Christ: St. Francis of Assisi.

Over 10,000 people have already signed an open letter, posted on the Internet, petitioning Mel Gibson to make his next movie about a famous medieval friar.

The writers of the letter are members of the Community of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal.

These modern friars know, of course, that Francis has been translated onto the screen before, in movies like Franco Zeffirelli’s 1972 “Brother Sun, Sister Moon” or the 1989 docudrama “Francesco,” starring Mickey Rourke. But that, they point out, is precisely the problem: “This powerful figure who shaped and changed the course of history has too often been reduced to a pious, peace-loving character cast in plaster.”