Jim Caviezel on playing Jesus

"When this whole thing began--I met one day with Mel [Gibson], and we're talking about other roles, and then stories in the Bible, and he's looking at me. And I said, 'You want me to play Jesus, don't you?' And he said, 'Yeah.' Your life builds up to things. When you're asked a question, when the whole history of your life comes to that moment--You want me to play Christ. don't you?--God gives you a grace inside your heart that says, 'Look, this is where I need you.'

"Miraculous things have happened. When I was hit by lightning [during the filming of a crucifixion scene], it was the one day I didn't have communion. We always had mass and I always received communion but on that one day the priest ran out of hosts. I was up there on the cross and I was hit and we knew I was going to be hit, we could see it coming. And the eyes of the men below me turned glossy. Everything was pink, fire coming from both sides of my head."

The whole article.