CusickGallery.net: Henry Ian Cusick

What’s your favorite movie portrayal of Jesus? (poll)

By William Thornton | wthornton@al.com
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on March 08, 2014 at 8:00 AM, updated March 08, 2014 at 8:07 AM

Jesus has returned…to a theater near you.

Audiences across America are taking in “Son of God,” starring Diogo Morgado as the man from Nazareth. The film, taken from footage shot for last year’s “The Bible” miniseries, made $26.5 million its first weekend, and heralds a year when other movies with Biblical stories, such as “Noah,” are expected.

Screen depictions of the life of Christ are as old as cinema itself. D.W. Griffith weaved the Gospel story into his silent epic “Intolerance” (1916), and Cecil B. DeMille cast H.B. Warner in the part for “The King of Kings” (1927).

Broadcast audiences still enjoy Franco Zeffirelli’s miniseries “Jesus of Nazareth,” (1977) with Robert Powell in an all-star cast that included Laurence Olivier, Rod Steiger, Ian McShane, James Earl Jones and Anne Bancroft. More people around the world may have seen Brian Deacon’s portrayal in “Jesus,” which has been shown in evangelism efforts in every country around the world.

Modern audiences will doubtless remember Jim Caviezel as Jesus in “The Passion of the Christ,” which garnered more than $350 million at the box office in 2004 despite its R-rating and violence.

And this is not counting epics such as “Ben-Hur” (1959), “The Robe,” (1953) or “Barabbas, (1961), where Jesus’ face is never actually seen.

You may not remember all the actors who have portrayed the Son of Man on screen. A few may be surprises:

Christian Bale. Batman? Yes, before he became the Caped Crusader, Bale played Jesus in a 1999 television movie, “Mary, Mother of Jesus.” His co-star playing the Virgin Mary, Pernilla August, also played another prominent screen mother – Shmi Skywalker, the mother of Anakin Skywalker, in “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.”

Henry Ian Cusick. Better known as Desmond Hume on the series “Lost,” Cusick played Christ in “The Gospel of John,” a movie which recreated the fourth Gospel word for word, with Christopher Plummer narrating.

Ralph Fiennes. Long before he was Lord Voldemort, Fiennes gave the voice of the Lord in a stop motion animated film with animated cartoons.

Jeremy Sisto. You’ve probably seen him on “Six Feet Under” or “Law & Order,” but Sisto played Jesus in a television miniseries starring Gary Oldman as Pilate and Debra Messing as Mary Magdalene.

Who’s your favorite?