The actor who would go on to play the Green Goblin in Spider-Man first died on the cross in the dramatic final scene of this 1988 spectacle. While it was Martin Scorsese who was nominated Oscar that year for Best Director, Defoe's performance was also widely acclaimed. “Willem Dafoe has such a gleaming intensity in this role, so much quiet authority, that the film's images of Jesus are overwhelming even when the thoughts attributed to him are not,” wrote The New York Times.
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Starring in a huge box-office hit is one way to get typecast. Mel Gibson’s graphic 2004 film was Caviezel’s biggest role to date and the film, which was alternately called “controversial” and “tormented,” earned over $370 million in the U.S. The actor is also a devout Roman Catholic.
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The Nacho Libre star makes a brief appearance in Marc Shaiman’s Prop 8: The Musical as a paunchy, hip-swinging messiah who reminds supporters of the anti-gay-marriage law about various antiquated biblical teachings that they selectively ignore. This farcical three-minute sketch went viral, picking up almost four million views on Will Ferrell's Web site Funny or Die.
In this film adaptation of the 1970 musical, a 23-year-old Victor Garber guides a troupe of youthful disciples through the streets of Manhattan, stopping at various landmarks to act out a series of parables. Garber's afro, face paint, Superman T-shirt, and red suspenders make for a particularly quirky rendition of the role, one that inspired a devoted fan base and countless high-school remakes. Jesus was just the beginning for Garber—he later played the captain in Titanic and Jennifer Garner's pop in Alias.
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One of the many characters that South Park co-creator Matt Stone gives life to is Jesus, a half-regular guy and half-miracle worker who makes frequent appearances on the show. South Park's Jesus is often a source of controversy: “We can do whatever we want to Jesus, and we have,” says Stone. “We’ve had him say bad words. We’ve had him shoot a gun. We’ve had him kill people. We can do whatever we want.”
As Jesus in the original stage and film versions of Jesus Christ Superstar in 1973, Ted Neeley captured the hearts of hippies everywhere. Still looking the part two decades later, he even resurrected the role for a JCS remake in 1990.
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In his first performance in English, Swedish actor Max Von Sydow played the Savior in this 1965 classic. Following Jesus from the nativity to resurrection, the movie was strangely set not in the Holy Land but in the American Southwest. Somewhat inexplicably, John Wayne also appears in the film—as a Roman centurion.
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Hunter’s messianic performance in the 1961 movie won him both praise and ridicule (a blue-eyed Jesus? Shameful). Filmed in Spain, the mammoth Biblical epic employed 20,000 extras and cost $8 million to make. And while Hunter’s performance may have been the film’s saving grace, Time called the movie, “Incontestably the corniest, phoniest, ickiest and most monstrously vulgar of all the big Bible stories Hollywood has told in the last decade.” Ouch.
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The 1959 film won 11 Academy Awards and Charlton Heston might have garnered the most attention for his titular portrayal, but it was an uncredited and oft-hidden Claude Heater in the role of Jesus who brought the film to its climactic ending.
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As Jesus Quintana, or “The Jesus,” Turturro is a far more eccentric offshoot of the typical son of God role. As the adversary to The Dude, played by Jeff Bridges in Joel and Ethan Coen’s cult classic, this Jesus is a creepy bowler with a Cuban-American accent.
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