Ben-Hur
Short description
Judah Ben-Hur is a prince of a noble Jewish family in Jerusalem living under Roman rule. His relationship with Messala, a Roman who grew up as his adopted brother, turns hostile after Messala returns home as a military officer and expects Judah to help him keep order. When Judah is wrongly blamed for an attack on the Roman governor, Messala does nothing to save him: the family is imprisoned and Judah is sent to row in chains on a Roman warship. Years later he returns home, where a sheik named Ilderim gives him the chance to face Messala again in a chariot race. The story is based on the novel by Lew Wallace.
Timur Bekmambetov directed the film, which follows Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter in the list of his feature credits. Jack Huston plays Judah, Toby Kebbell plays Messala, Morgan Freeman plays Ilderim, Rodrigo Santoro plays Jesus, and Nazanin Boniadi and Ayelet Zurer play Esther and Naomi. John Ridley and Keith R. Clarke wrote the screenplay, and Duncan Henderson, Sean Daniel and Mark Burnett produced. Made for a reported hundred million dollars, it earned around ninety-four million worldwide.
Its ratings sit below the middle: on IMDb it holds 5.7 from roughly forty-nine thousand votes, and on TMDB 5.8 from a few thousand. A critics' score of 4.5 from 186 reviews places it close to the audience figure, so both critics and viewers received it coolly.
What's left behind the scenes
- Gal Gadot was initially cast as Esther, but she was forced to leave the project due to filming commitments for other movies.
- The film's premiere was originally scheduled for February 26, 2016, but it was postponed to August 2016 in October 2015.
- Before Nazanin Boniadi, an British-Iranian actress, was cast as Esther, the filmmakers considered Sofia Boutella, Moran Atias, and Natalia Warner for the role.
- The role of Ben-Hur's sister, Tirzah, was initially offered to Olivia Cooke, but Sofia Black-D'Elia ended up playing the part.
- At the insistence of director Timur Bekmambetov, an arena for chariot races was constructed, and the scenes filmed there were shot without computer technology as much as possible. The director believed this was absolutely necessary for realism.
- Morgan Freeman reads the narration at the beginning and end of the film. The recording of almost all the narration was done in Clarksdale, Mississippi.
- A scene of Jesus, played by Rodrigo Santoro, interacting with the main character was cut from the version released for the Middle East and Muslim countries in other parts of the world.
- Tom Hiddleston was offered the lead role, but he chose to star in "Kong: Skull Island" (2017) instead.
- This is the sixth adaptation of Lewis Wallace’s novel (1827-1905) “Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ” (1880). It began with a short silent film, “Ben-Hur” (1907), followed by Fred Niblo’s “Ben-Hur” (1925); William Wyler’s “Ben-Hur” (1959) won 11 Academy Awards; a cartoon, “Ben-Hur,” was released on DVD in 2003; and a Canadian television series, “Ben-Hur,” directed by Steve Shill, came out in 2010.
- William Wyler’s “Ben-Hur” (1959) received 11 Academy Awards, which remains a record for the most golden statuettes. “Ben-Hur” (1959) shares first place for the total number of awards with James Cameron’s “Titanic” (1997) and Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003).
- Several actors involved in the film have appeared in films based on DC Comics. Morgan Freeman, who played Sheikh Ilderim, portrayed Lucius Fox in Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins" (2005), "The Dark Knight" (2008), and "The Dark Knight Rises" (2012). Ayelet Zurer played Lara Lor-Van, Superman's mother, in Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel" (2013).
- Pedro Pascal was initially cast as Pontius Pilate, but Pilou Asbæk ultimately played the role. Both actors appeared in the television series "Game of Thrones."
- This adaptation is 1 hour and 27 minutes shorter than the previous version of "Ben-Hur" (William Wyler, 1959).
Similar movies
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