Christian Actor David Oyelowo revealed in recent interview that God told him he would one day play the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in the 'Selma' film almost a decade in advance.

The 38-year-old English actor is best known for playing Louis Gaines in the critically acclaimed film 'The Butler' in 2013, where he was part of an all-star cast that included Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Jane Fonda, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Terrence Howard, Lenny Kravitz and the late Robin Williams to name a few.

"In 2007, after I read the script, God told me I was going to play the part in this film. I wrote it down because it was a shocking notion to me. Who on Earth do I think I am to be playing Dr. King? But this deep spiritual knowing lodged in my spirit." The appeal of playing a Christian icon was 'a hundred percent,'" said Oyelowo in an interview, according to a report by The Courier Journal.

"It's emotionally exhausting to spend months in a film about violence and hatred. But I always remember that I'm an actor, a storyteller, and what I'm going through in terms of exhaustion is nothing compared to what these people endured day in, day out, for years."

Oyelowo also compared the iconic civil rights leader's horrific assassination on April 4, 1968 to the selfless martyrdom of Jesus Christ on the cross in the recent interview.

"Jesus gave his life for the cause he was here to live out, and Dr. King did the same. He's an example of using sacrificial love to overcome hate. He didn't want adulation for himself. At no point did he want to be accused of using the movement for his own financial gain. In fact, he gave away all the money that was given to him for the Nobel Peace Prize. I deeply admire the fact that his faith led to freedom for so many people," said Oyelowo.

As a result, the second generation Nigerian actor also talked about how God helped him stay humble despite playing the historic icon in the biopic.

"We are all flawed. We are all filled with contradictions of strength and weakness. That's what defines us as human, and one of the pleasures of the role for me was demythologizing him...God is the center of my life. Being a Christian is central to who I am as a human being. Being a husband to a wonderful wife I've been married to for 16 years, and a father to four wonderful children - those are my rocks, those are my foundations."

"I'm very glad that acting isn't the center of my life, because it's very precarious. We're talking about a film that people are reacting very positively to right now, but inevitably I'm going to do work that won't succeed as well. If that's where your self-esteem and sense of self lie, when the inevitable moment comes along that people don't like what you're doing, you crumble. But God never changes, my wife loves me, as well as do my kids, and that's my life."

The 'Selma' film is expected to arrive in movie theaters nationwide on January 9, after it previously debuted as a limited release on Christmas Day, 2014.