Joaquin Phoenix has always been a fascinatingly diverse actor, having already earned three Oscar nominations, with the most recent being for his portrayal as the mentally unstable protagonist in Paul Thomas Anderson‘s The Master. He did, however, take a noticeable amount of time-off after his 2010 mockumentary I’m Still Here, but he’s bounced back as one of the top stars in Hollywood. And although he is not an overly prolific actor these days, he easily makes up for it with his unpredictable choice of roles.

He was last seen in Woody Allen‘s Irrational Man, where he played an accomplished but troubled philosophy professor who commits strange acts in order to find a will to live. But he is currently being eyed for the role of Jesus Christ in the upcoming biopic Mary Magdalene. The film will tell the story of the titular character, a woman who was supposedly a follower of Jesus Christ and was there when he was crucified and resurrected.

Should he accept the role, Phoenix will star opposite Rooney Mara who is playing Magdalene. The two shared the screen in Her, the acclaimed dystopian love drama from director Spike Jonze. Garth Davis is helming the biblical biopic, with Phoenix specifically being considered in hopes of creating an unfamiliar depiction of Christ, rather than recycling previous cinematic versions. Along with tackling such an iconic story, Phoenix and Mara would surely be a great on-screen pair, bringing everything they have to their characters. So, now, we will just have to wait and see if the 41-year-old actor will officially come aboard.

Mary Magdalene is set to hit theaters sometime in 2017.