Jim Caviezel
Age: 36
Hometown: Mount Vernon, Wash.
Residence: Los Angeles
Role: Jim McCormick

(May 2005) – Jim Caviezel is a devout Catholic and former high school basketball star turned actor who relished the role of “Gentleman” Jim McCormick. To those who knew McCormick, Caviezel was a natural for the part. But Caviezel had little to go on to accurately portray the late McCormick other than the “ABC Wide World of Sports” footage from an interview immediately after the Gold Cup race in 1971.
So Caviezel took the part and made it his own. “It’s Jim McCormick, but there’s a lot of me in that role, too,” said Caviezel, who arrived in Madison early Saturday and spent about 34 hours in town before flying back to Los Angeles to work on his next film.
During a Sunday morning interview at City Hall with a group of reporters, Caviezel discussed his experience making “Madison” but also talked about his experience with “The Passion of Christ” and his recent trip to Rome to attend Pope John Paul II’s funeral. He was among a handful of Americans who received a special invitation to the funeral. Caviezel had met the Pope twice while making “The Passion,” and he related several stories about his trip and his 20-minute visit with the Pontiff.
“That’s a lot of time with the Pope,” marveled one reporter.
“That’s a lot of time with Jesus,” Caviezel shot back.
He related one conversation he had with the Pope in which he joked, “I always thought Jesus was Catholic.” The Pope responded, “I always thought Jesus was Polish.”
As he has related in many TV interviews and most recently on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” Caviezel told of his hypothermia and separated shoulder that he suffered while shooting the crucifixion scene on the cross over a five-month period. He was twice struck by lightning during the filming and both he and the film crew had life-changing experiences from the events, he said. He also had a 14-inch mark on his back from being struck twice by the lasher. He still suffers pain from his injuries.
Caviezel’s faith was demonstrated that Sunday by making a surprise appearance at Prince of Peace Catholic Church and speaking for about 20 minutes from the pulpit. The crowd was surprised to see and hear Caviezel speak, said Madison resident Georgie Kelly, who was in the crowd that morning.
“He came in and captured everyone’s attention,” Kelly said. “He has a unique sense of humor, but he has a deeply seriousnous to him, too.”
“He was the most charismatic speaker I’ve ever heard,” said parishioner Dee Gauger. “He had notes but mostly spoke off the top of his head. We were just in awe, and we gave him a standing ovation.”
Still touched by his experiences with the Pope and making “The Passion,” Caviezel spreads the message given to him by the Pontiff wherever he goes.
“John Paul said, ‘You have a responsibility. You can make evil look good and good look evil... Americans need to understand that choice is not doing the things you want, but having the freedom to do what you want.”

Jake Lloyd
Age: 16
Hometown: Fort Collins, Colo.
Residence: Carmel, Ind.
Role: Mike McCormick

(May 2005) – The last time Madisonians saw Jake Lloyd, he was riding around town on a bicycle in between takes of the movie. Today, he is a 16-year-old sophomore at Carmel High School.
Lately, he has been busy helping to promote the latest “Star Wars” movie, set to hit theaters in May. He took part in a huge “Star Wars Celebration 3” convention in April in Indianapolis, where filmmaker George Lucas made an appearance.
But Lloyd said he was “thrilled” to return to Madison for the premiere. He spent more time than any other actor signing autographs on the red carpet, both before and after the screening. He did not attend the Gala tent party afterward – it was a school night, after all.
During an interview Sunday morning, he and his mother, Lisa Riley, described their mutual decision to leave the film industry for a few years so he could grow up in a semi-normal environment. In 1999, then-Lisa Lloyd was made a co-producer of the movie “Madison” as part of the deal to hire Jake to play young Mike McCormick. He was perhaps the most famous of all the actors in 1999 because the first of the second trilogy of “Star Wars” had just come out that summer, starring Jake as Anakin Skywalker. Lisa has since divorced and remarried and moved her son and daughter, Madison, to Carmel, where they have lived since 1999.
Jake apparently has found normalcy in Carmel. He tried football one year and now drives himself to school in his prized 1995 GMC Jimmy. He hopes to someday study filmmaking and pursue a career in the industry, either as a director, producer or actor.
Jake is saving the money he made from “Madison” and “Star Wars” for college. “I can’t touch that money until I’m 18,” he said. “Besides, what else could a teenager do with all that money?”
Riley said she was ridiculed for moving her movie star son out of Los Angeles, but she was determined to give him a chance to grown up and decide on his own at a later age if this was what he wanted to do. She said her son was upset at first, but the two have learned to make the best of it.
Lloyd left Madison without worrying too much about whether the movie would ever come out. “I stopped caring after a while,” he said. “I gave in and stopped focusing on it. What I really enjoy is the creative process. I love film and plan to do something with it in college.”
For now, however, Lloyd is content “to have fun. Even as an adult, I don’t want to have to take it so unbelievably seriously.”
Lloyd can say that now. But when the bills start piling up as an adult, he may find it more difficult to have fun. He’s banking on his name and experience as a child film star to get him that first big break.
“The name seems to carry a lot of weight,” he said. “We have had a lot of opportunities already.”