At the height of his stardom, Mel Gibson realized he was empty. He had achieved everything he ever hoped for—except a sense of purpose. Gibson felt he was drowning in fame, wealth, drink, and despair. This led the one-time "Sexiest Man Alive" to his knees and back to God. In a Reader's Digest interview, Gibson told Peggy Noonan,

There was a time in my life when I was really searching. I was asking all those Shakespearean Hamlet questions: "What's on the other side? Why am I here?" I might have looked like I'm living the high life, making movies and jetting around the world, but true happiness resides within. I was spiritually bankrupt, and when that happens, it's like a spiritual cancer afflicts you. It starts to eat its way through, and if you don't do something, it's going to take you. So I simply had to draw a line in the sand.

This 12-year pilgrimage led Gibson to the Gospels and the passion of Christ. He was able to realize what Jesus did on the cross. Gibson understood his need for the sacrifice, and described it to Noonan this way:

The purpose of the sacrifice (of Christ) was to expiate the transgressions of all mankind…. These are the testimonies from the Gospels, and they speak of love. They speak of ransom, and a complete forgetting of self, for the sake of all others, which is really the height of heroism. Jesus became the whipping boy so that we have a chance, because we can't make it on our own.