Poll: Denzel Washington leads list of actors fans want to play Jesus Christ

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In a new online poll, Vanity Fair and 60 minutes posed the question “if you were directing a new film version of the New Testament, which actor would you cast to play Jesus?” Denzel Washington was the winner with 21 percent of people preferring him to take on the role of Jesus Christ on the big screen.

Daniel Day-Lewis, Al Pacino, Ryan Gosling, Woody Allen and Phillip Seymour Hoffman were also amongst the list of actors included in the survey. Actor Jim Cavizel starred as Jesus Christ in The Passion of the Christ in 2004, which was the last major box office film to depict the life of Jesus Christ.

If Washington were to take on the role of Jesus, it would not be the first time he has starred as a character with religious or spiritual undertones.

In 1996 Washington appeared as an angel alongside Whitney Houston in The Preacher’s Wife. And in 2010 the Academy Award winning actor starred in the post-apocalyptic sci-fi hit The Book of Eli, where he fought to protect a King James Version of the Bible, which was portrayed as a sacred book that holds the secrets to saving humankind.

His American Gangster co-star Russell Crowe will play Noah in the biblical epic film of the same name, which is currently in production and will hit theaters sometime in 2014.

Do you think Denzel Washington would agree to star as Jesus on the big screen? And do you think the world is ready for a black Jesus?

Follow Chris Witherspoon on Twitter at @WitherspoonC