Stephen McEveety thought he was working on a film that wouldn't do well when he agreed to produce The Passion of the Christ.

Instead, he got the blockbuster of his career — and an experience of God that changed him and his family forever.

Mel Gibson's film about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ will be released on video and DVD on Aug. 31. The movie's producer talked to Register correspondent Andrew Walther.

How did you start producing movies?

I worked my way up through the industry. I climbed the ladder; I was born basically on a movie set. My dad was in the business; my uncles were; my grandfather was an actor.

I did a little bit of acting as a child, just bit parts on TV shows and a couple features. Then I ran away from it for a few years, and then I ended up going to Loyola Marymount University and studying film in their film school. And during that time, I was able to work as a stand-in on shows, so I got a double education. I went to school and then I would go on the set and see if what they were teaching me was correct.

So I was really fortunate. I loved it and learned it, but I had to really climb the ladder and was production assistant and then got into the directors’ guild. My education in film was pretty extensive so I understood the medium, but filmmaking is something you never quite fully conquer. You are always learning something new, and the day you stop learning something new, it's time to retire.

Before The Passion, how much did your faith figure into the work that you do?

Oh, it does, a lot. I went to16 years of Catholic education, so that's drilled into you. But, like most people, my faith has been tested throughout the years, and I don't know that I have been the best Catholic in the world. I am far better today than I was three or four years ago.

I think making The Passion had a lot to do with it. I was witness to a lot of graces, a lot of mini-miracles, and confronted with the dark side, as well. So I was very fortunate that I was able to personally experience the existence of the spiritual world.

There are numerous occasions where special things happened. The better-known ones are “lightning boy” — Jan Michellini — the guy who got hit by lightning two times on the same movie, which is not a normal occurrence, to say the least. Years ago, he was the first baptism the Pope ever performed.

Jim Caveziel — who played Jesus — got hit by lightning, too.

That's just a big slap in the face, but there are a lot of smaller ones, a lot of quieter slaps. They are still happening. I was very fortunate to be able to do this film. It changed my life and my family's. It was just an overall great experience, and a tough one.

So The Passion made your faith stronger — but not easier.

That is a very true statement. It is not always an easier thing. It makes you feel a little more responsible than you'd like to be. Or at least you have to acknowledge your responsibility. It's easier to close your eyes to moral responsibility.

And there is so much to learn about the Catholic faith and the Bible. It has made me more prayerful, absolutely.

What has been the most memorable moment of your work?

Certainly, it's the freshest, too, but it's the whole experience with The Passion. I wouldn't isolate one moment of it, though; it's all a combined experience. Your memory doesn't remember 1985; it remembers the movie you did at the time. My child was born when I was making what movie? My wife and I reflect back on our marriage, and the big events are always recalled from the movies we have done.

The experience of making The Passion will never leave. Something like that never leaves you. If it does, then I'll pay for it.

There was a great deal of negative publicity surrounding The Passion. How did you cope with that?

We coped with it on a day-today basis. We were in a defensive mode the entire time; we tried to understand it the best we could, and deal with it in such a way that it wouldn't be offensive to our detractors, yet would keep the film moving forward, propel the film to some success.

But, gosh, we weren't expecting much.

When the studios tell you that they don't want to distribute it and back away from it and don't want to have anything to do with it, you're kind of figuring, well, this doesn't appear to be a profit center. When Mel Gibson has to spend his own money on a movie, that's quite a signal there, you may be barking up the wrong tree.

The Passionwas overtly Christian, but in general, do you see a way that people in the industry can have a positive moral influence with movies that aren't explicitly religious?

Well, absolutely they can. Right now, we're at a point where it's not, “Can they have a positive influence?” It's, “Can they stop having a negative influence?” I think that the individuals in Hollywood are — for the most part — very decent, intelligent people, which is contradictory to what their reputation is.

I think we tend to leave our conscience on the nightstand at home and not take it to work with us. Encouraging people to do the opposite, I think, will have a great effect on the product that comes up.

It's not so much faith as just conscience. Just accepting moral responsibility for their work. Many people have that, and there are some really great films out there.

Does the financial success of The Passion bode well for what other people might produce down the road?

Certainly it does. I think it says that there is a huge audience that would love to be entertained in a positive way. It hasn't been tapped into for a long, long time. I don't think a lot of religious films are the answer. Just films that explain that it's okay to be good; in fact, it's better than okay. Heroes are made from goodness.

Andrew Walther writes from Los Angeles.