Actor David Oyelowo, who portrays Martin Luther King in the new movie "Selma," said the film could help to heal the country in the wake of the nationwide outrage over the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.
"We wrapped on the third of July [and] Michael Brown was killed on the ninth of August,” said Oyelowo in an interview with Jim Wallis, president of Sojourners,
according to The Huffington Post.
"There was no way that we could know a historical film could feel as relevant as it is in the shape of 'Selma.' I think God knew all along.
"I truly believe that the film has potential to be an agent of much-needed healing for this country. The devil doesn't enjoy that."
Wallis, author of
"The [Un]Common Good: How the Gospel Brings Hope to a World Divided," agreed with Oyelowo that a sea of change in the nation’s approach to ethnic diversity could result from the film.
"I believe this movie, unlike most others, could actually change the nation's conversation about race and reconciliation at a crucial time, perhaps even providentially," said Wallis.
Police were cleared by grand juries of any wrongdoing in the deaths of Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Garner in New York City, leading to a string of destructive protest rallies across the country.
Oyelowo also told Wallis, editor of Sojourners magazine and founder of the Washington D.C.-based Christian community of the same name, that he was drawn to the role by the "voice of God," the Post reported.
"I always knew that in order to play Dr. King, I had to have God flow through me because when you see Dr. King giving those speeches, you see that he is moving in his anointing," Oyelowo said.
The actor said that playing the great Christian leader became part of his personal calling as a Christian, adding, "I do know the voice of God."
Oyelowo told Wallis that after years of research into Dr. King and the civil rights movement, he believed that MLK could not have led this movement if he had not been a "man of faith."
"I don't think [King] could have as stuck ... to the theme of nonviolence and love in the face of hate if he didn't feel that command and that notion from God,"
Oyelowo said.
"His faith was the engine for what he believed in and how he acted."
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