Actor Jim Caviezel, his voice sometimes cracking with emotion, spoke of being "rejected in my own industry,"

The star of "The Passion of the Christ, the eighth most profitable film in history.

The actor recalled Gibson's offering him the role of Jesus in the film, then calling him back to beg him not to take it:

"He said, 'You'll never work in this town again.' I told him, 'We all have to embrace our crosses'.

But the actor noted that Gibson wasn't far off the mark when he spoke of the damage playing Jesus could do to his career.

"Jesus is as controversial now as he has ever been," Caviezel said. "Not much has changed in 2,000 years."

Caviezel said he doesn't worry about the career price he paid with that film — a global box-office smash that led to fewer, not more, film offers for him. "The awards, the hall of fame" that actors get into here on Earth, he said, don't matter to him. His reward, he said, will come in heaven.

"We have to give up our names, our reputations, our lives to speak the truth," Caviezel said.