Posted on 01/25/2002 7:34:05 AM PST by patent
JIM Caviezel takes the sex out of sex symbol.Well, he'd like to, anyway. The rising star of Hollywood hits and drooling Internet fan sites is a devout Roman Catholic who says his faith forbids him from getting randy on camera.
This is the man who starred in last year's "Angel Eyes" only after J. Lo agreed to keep it on during their premarital lovemaking.
"I just said, 'Look, put a top on her,' " Caviezel told The Post. " 'I'm gonna keep my shorts on, she's gonna keep hers on. Get the camera and shoot around it.' And that's out of devotion, love and respect to my wife."
In L.A. recently, where the 33-year-old lives with his wife, Kerri, a high-school English teacher, he spoke of his latest, "The Count of Monte Cristo," the Disney feature opening Friday. And he was quick to explain why this "Monte" wasn't full.
"You're never gonna see my butt on film unless I'm in the Holocaust, walking around," said the Washington state native, who had 10 years of Catholic schooling.
"I have a hard time getting naked on film. I don't believe in it. I don't think it's right. In my faith, I'm taught that abstinence is important."
It's almost unheard of for someone so old-fashioned to make it so far through Hollywood's starmaking machinery without a jam-up. Yet Caviezel, plucked from nowhere to star in 1998's "The Thin Red Line," has mounted a left-field assault on Tinseltown's A-list with his morals intact.
Dagmara Dominczyk remembers how nervous her "Cristo" love interest seemed just before their PG-13 sex scene.
"Jim took me aside and said, 'You know, I'm married and very faithful,' " says the Polish-born beauty. "And I said, 'Jim, it's a Disney movie. I'm not gonna grab your crotch!' "
In "The Count of Monte Cristo," the 12th cinematic adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' 1844 novel, Caviezel plays Edmond Dantes, a French sailor unfairly labeled a traitor by former friends and acquaintances who, each for different reasons, conspire to have him locked up.
Transformed by 13 years of prison beatings into a vengeful psychopath who looks like American Taliban John Walker, Dantes orchestrates a brilliant escape. Then he disguises himself as a count and begins offing his betrayers one by one.
"Death is too good for them!" Dantes sneers.
Caviezel has no problem with the violence, since he doesn't consider it gratuitous. But he's not thrilled with the message - that vengeance can be exacted without paying the ultimate price.
That said, he added, "I don't expect anyone else to agree with my views.
"But I wouldn't be where I am today, I wouldn't have had the courage to do what I'm doing now, if I hadn't had the direction of something greater than me."
http://www.starmagazine.com/
Regards,
You owe me a keyboard for that one. LOL
Actually, no. That's a whole different matter upon which there is no such consensus. In fact the dispute about that became so heavy it darn near toppled the Eastern Roman Empire.
There was eventually consensus on that issue in the Christian world, and again it is quite contrary to your interpretation. It's seen as an old testament teaching banning idolatry, rather than banning images themselves.
But even if you reject the common Christian interpretation of image making/idolatry, you cannot find a similar dispute about the Bible's condemnation of sex outside of marriage. That one has always been clear.
Which is why the Christian faith is not based exclusively on the examples you might like to pick and choose from the Bible. It's taken on the lessons learned from the Bible as a whole.
If you have read the Bible and think it is a faithful interpretation to say it's ok to have sex outside of marriage - just not with prostitutes - you will disagree with almost every faithful Christian since the time of the apostles. But at least you'll do it in good faith. If you do it thinking you've outsmarted God and found a loophole, you'll only be harming yourself.
She's not all that good-looking or built,either. Most of it is publicity she received for being Shawn Combs girlfriend.
Baby not only got back,she's got the whole damn south 40!
"Do Wah Diddy Dumb"? Ever'body be gawn 'round singing his name!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.