Jim Caviezel plays Jair Bolsonaro in the biopic “Heroic” | the biography

Jair Bolsonaro, the former Brazilian president now imprisoned for plotting a coup, is getting the biographical treatment.

Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus in Mel Gibson’s 2004 film The Passion of the Christ, is said to be secretly portraying a “heroic” image of the former right-wing politician. Dark Horse, directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh and written by Mario Frias, who served as culture minister under Bolsonaro, began filming 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 plot to prevent his leftist rival, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, from taking power, although his supporters deny These allegations are likened to the trial to the alleged “legal warfare” that Donald Trump faced before his re-election.

The plot, which included a plan to assassinate Lula and his deputy, collapsed after army commanders refused to participate. The court found that Bolsonaro and six of his accomplices attempted to “annihilate” Brazilian democracy and return Latin America’s largest democracy to dictatorship.

Frias began posting clips from the project showing Caviezel dressed as Bolsonaro on Monday. The film, starring Lynn Collins and Esai Morales, is scheduled to end production in Mexico and the United States in 2026.

Bolsonaro’s son Carlos confirmed the film’s presence on Channel X, posting a photo of himself with Caviezel dressed as his father. “I know your legacy will continue to be admired by good people and envied by those who seek destruction – and yet the message you imprint with every step leaves its mark on the world,” he wrote of Caviezel, ending his post with the words “God, Jesus and Freedom!”

Based on leaks and an unofficial first look, the film appears to focus on Bolsonaro’s 2018 presidential campaign, with an emphasis on his military background. At the time, the disgraced and controversial former president sparked international outrage when he said that Brazil’s indigenous people were “increasingly becoming human beings just like us” and that he would rather have his son die in a car accident than be gay, among many racist, homophobic and misogynistic statements.

After his success in 1990s and early 2000s films such as The Thin Red Line and Frequency as well as The Passion of the Christ, Caviezel repositioned himself as a representative of Christian Hollywood and the conservative right. To promote his 2023 film Voice of Freedom, which some have criticized as Q-Anon-adjacent paranoia about child sex trafficking, he appeared at several Q-Anon-affiliated events and on a podcast with Trump ally Steve Bannon. He also appeared on MAGA personality Mike Lindell’s television channel, among other right-wing media appearances.

The actor is also a public supporter of Donald Trump, endorsing him in 2024 and referring to him as “the new Moses.”

Caviezel was recently set to star in The Resurrection of Christ, Gibson’s follow-up to his 2004 film. He was recast after the director failed to find a suitable way to digitally age him.

Bolsonaro began serving his 27-year sentence in a parking-sized room in the capital, Brasilia, last month.