Jim Caviezel to play Jair Bolsonaro in 'heroic' biopic
Source: The Guardian
Jim Caviezel to play Jair Bolsonaro in ‘heroic’ biopic
Actor, who starred in The Passion of the Christ, will play the disgraced ex-Brazilian president in film written by his one-time secretary of culture
Adrian Horton
Mon 8 Dec 2025 17.42 GMT
Last modified on Mon 8 Dec 2025 17.53 GMT
Jim Caviezel to play Jair Bolsonaro in ‘heroic’ biopic
Actor, who starred in The Passion of the Christ, will play the disgraced ex-Brazilian president in film written by his one-time secretary of culture
Adrian Horton
Mon 8 Dec 2025 17.42 GMT
Last modified on Mon 8 Dec 2025 17.53 GMT
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Jair Bolsonaro, the former Brazilian president now in prison for plotting a coup, is getting the biopic treatment.
Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus in Mel Gibson’s 2004 film The Passion of the Christ, is reportedly filming a “heroic” portrait of the rightwing ex-politician in secret. Dark Horse, directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh and written by Mário Frias, who served as secretary of culture under Bolsonaro, started shooting three months ago in Brazil, where Bolsonaro served as president from 2019 until 2023. He was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison in September 2025 for leading a criminal conspiracy to stop his leftwing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, taking power, though his supporters deny the allegations and have compared the prosecution to the “lawfare” allegedly faced by Donald Trump before he was re-elected.
The plot, which involved a plan to assassinate Lula and his running mate, foundered after military chiefs refused to take part. The court found that Bolsonaro and six accomplices tried to “annihilate” Brazilian democracy and return Latin America’s largest democracy to dictatorship.
Frias began posting clips from the project showing Caviezel in costume as Bolsonaro on Monday. The film also stars Lynn Collins and Esai Morales, and will conclude production in Mexico and the US in 2026.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/dec/08/jim-caviezel-jair-bolsonaro-biopic