Deadline reports that Joaquin Phoenix is in talks to play Jesus in Garth Davis’s Mary Magdalene, which has Rooney Mara attached to play the title role.
There are still no details about the story, but Deadline notes that the casting, if it goes through, “would raise the curiosity about the project even more with the assembling talent indicating an edgy, decidedly indie take on the greatest story ever told.”
Phoenix and Mara previously played ex-spouses in Spike Jonze’s Her.
I interviewed Phoenix eleven years ago when he played Johnny Cash in Walk the Line.
Interestingly, the real-life Cash produced a Jesus film of his own — The Gospel Road, released in 1973 — though Walk the Line doesn’t get into that. (Indeed, Walk the Line was criticized by some for downplaying the role that religion played in Cash’s life.)
Phoenix was Oscar-nominated for his role in Walk the Line.
He was also nominated for his roles in Gladiator (which, like Mary Magdalene, takes place in the ancient Roman empire) and The Master (which, like Mary Magdalene, concerns what the sociologists would call a “new religious movement”).
It will be interesting to see who else joins the cast of this film. Stay tuned.
— The photo above shows the Phoenix and Mara characters in Spike Jonze’s Her.
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