Cliff Curtis lined up to play Jesus

Actor Cliff Curtis. Photo / Christine Cornege

It seems our finest actors fit the bill to play the holiest people in history.

First Keisha Castle-Hughes played the Virgin Mary in the 2006 film The Nativity Story, now there's speculation her on-screen father in Whale Rider, Cliff Curtis, is playing Jesus in the new movie Clavius.

The film, being shot in Malta by Waterworld director Kevin Reynolds, takes place in the days after Christ's crucifixion and is about a Roman soldier investigating the Resurrection.

The speculation arose after an unusual interview Curtis did this week to promote Kiwi movie The Dark Horse, now showing at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Thompson on Hollywood writer John Anderson reported Curtis - who is something of a method actor - refused to talk during the interview, "though he will gesture with his hands and write answers on his laptop, because he is currently playing 'a man of God ... who speaks only of God'."

As Curtis is currently filming Clavius, Anderson reckons that means he's playing Jesus. If so, it seems likely he'll be the first Maori actor to play Christ in a major blockbuster.

As for Castle-Hughes, 24, she is set to start filming in Spain next month for her new Game of Thrones role. She plays Obara Sand, the eldest daughter of the ill-fated Prince Oberyn.

Spain has been chosen over other exotic Mediterranean destinations as the deep South of Westeros, where the people of Dorne demand vengeance for the death of Prince Oberyn. She also visited the set during filming for the hit TV series in Croatia this month.

Meanwhile, fellow Kiwi actor Sia Trokenheim, 39, has also scored a hit international role - and it seems playing a mum is a winning formula for her.

Trokenheim gained acclaim recently as mother to Suzy Clarkson's son Ben in Kiwi film Everything We Loved, and series two of Step Dave has been confirmed for next year, in which she will reprise her role as mum-of-three Cara.

This weekend she flies to India to start filming Beyond the Known World, in which she is plays a recently divorced woman on bad terms with her ex-husband. But when their teenage daughter goes missing, they re-unite to journey into the Himalayas to find her.