"I was completely blessed to be part of it all, and blessed to survive it all," he remarked.
Though a few Catholic bishops, such as Archbishop of Denver Charles J. Chaput, had supported the film immediately, producers of "The Passion" had difficulty finding traction among other bishops and took their pre-release promotional campaign to Evangelical churches.
The campaign was wildly successful, helping the movie become the most profitable independent production in history.
In the conference call McEveety also discussed his latest movie, "The Stoning of Soraya M," a drama based on a real-life execution of an innocent Iranian woman accused of adultery. He said the film, perhaps the "most unique" he had ever helped make, was about "women’s rights and human rights and the abuse of power."
"It’s about abuse, and about the abuser, from a part of the world that we try to ignore," he continued. "This needs to be brought to the surface, but hopefully we look at ourselves as well through this film.
"It may never be a big blockbuster but, boy, am I glad I made it."
He said the effort helped "empower" the Iranian man who wanted to tell the story in the Farsi-language movie, made largely by a "great crew" of American-Iranians.
"It’s their story. We just helped them make it the best that can be made."
The film’s capstone stoning sequence was "particularly difficult" to shoot, he explained. Local villagers in the Middle Eastern country where the film was made were unclear about what the filmmakers were doing.
When some villagers were asked to join in the stoning as extras, McEveety remarked, a couple of them went up to the actor playing the mullah and asked if the "execution" had the number of witnesses required by law.
The actor, not knowing how to respond, said they did. According to the filmmaker, the villagers "were okay with that."
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"They didn’t have any problem joining in the stoning at that point, which was really a statement unto itself."
McEveety said that fans of "The Stoning of Soraya M." were inadvertently discouraging viewers by warning about its disturbing content. He encouraged fans to recommend the movie "without reservation."
Describing his upcoming films to the conference call listeners, McEveety said he was working on a promising family film titled "Snowmen" and a couple of comedies. One is about a father who thinks he is a secret agent.
A movie on Our Lady of Guadalupe is also in the works.
He also reported that he is developing a movie "Left to Tell," based on the book by Rwandan genocide survivor Immaculee Ilibagiza.
Speaking in a June interview with Christianity Today’s Peter T. Chattaway, McEveety said the film is about "forgiveness" and "spiritual warfare."