‘Ant-Man’ Actor Paul Rudd Chooses Jesus Christ as Historical Figure to Meet

Michael Foust Crosswalk Headlines Contributor
Published Jun 19, 2024

The actor best known for his roles in the Ant-Man and Ghostbusters franchises didn’t hesitate when recently asked which historical figure he would most like to meet. It’s Jesus Christ.

Paul Rudd answered as much while discussing his latest film, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. He said people sometimes laugh when he answers “Jesus,” even though he believes it’s an obvious reply. His answer came during an interview with IGV Presents, which noted that Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire opens with a trip back in time.

“If you guys could go back in time and spend a day with anyone in history, who would you choose?” Simon Harkness asked Rudd and co-stars Mckenna Grace and Finn Wolfhard.

“Anyone from history, who would we choose?” Rudd replied. “I know my answer: Jesus Christ.”

Grace and Wolfhard, already laughing from one of his previous answers, started giggling again.

“Laugh all you want,” Rudd said, standing firm.

Wolfhard then questioned if Jesus was real.

“He existed,” Rudd said. “Wouldn’t you want to spend some time with Him and go, ‘Jesus, what’s the deal?’”

“It’s genuinely a great answer,” Wolfhard acknowledged.

“Fantastic answer,” Grace said.

“You say this, and people are like, whoa, whoa, whoa, you can’t say that.’ And I’d say, ‘Why?’ That’s who I would choose,” Rudd said.

It’s not the first time Rudd has given such an answer. In 2018, Rudd told Vulture, “People say, ‘Who would you have dinner with,’ and I say, ‘Jesus Christ.’ And people laugh. They think that I’m kidding.”

Rudd is Jewish.

“My whole family is Jewish; my wife, Julie, is Jewish – there isn’t anyone in my family who isn’t Jewish,” he told the Jewish Journal. “I was bar mitzvahed Reform; we were pretty laid back, but it’s like, oh yeah, I went to synagogue…We have a lineage that is so many thousands of years old that you just relate. It is a tribe; it’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s my team,’ and I feel that for sure.”

WATCH: Full Ghostbusters Frozen Empire Interview Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard, and Mckenna Grace

Rudd is one of Hollywood’s most popular actors. He has starred in five Marvel movies, including Avengers: Endgame, and has appeared in the last two Ghostbusters films.

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.