Ben-Hur
The entertainment experience of a lifetime!
Country
Production
Budget
$15 000 000
Revenue
$164 000 000
Director
Actors
Scenario
Producer
Sam Zimbalist
Operator
Composer
Artist
Audition
Editing
John D. Dunning, Ralph E. Winters
All team (25)
All team (25)
Short description
In ancient Judea, a Jewish aristocrat opposing Roman occupation of his homeland reunites with his childhood friend, now a Roman commander — setting in motion a saga of betrayal, adventure, tragedy, revenge, and faith.
What's left behind the scenes
- To transform the brownish water reservoir into a real Mediterranean Sea, they had to call a chemist. He poured in some substance – the water turned azure. However, anyone who fell overboard during the battle couldn't wash off the residue for a long time.
- For filming the battle scenes, MGM wanted to use an exact replica of a Roman ship. The built boat lasted only a few minutes on the ocean surface. The very first small wave capsized it. So, they had to move the "ancient" vessel to a special pool and control it with ropes.
- The film is based on the novel of the same name by American writer Lew Wallace.
- Burt Lancaster turned down the lead role in the film.
- To support the extras, MGM built special pavilions where 5,000 extras could easily have lunch in 20 minutes.
- 50,000 people (residents of several Italian villages) participated in the extras casting, with 15,000 of them alone in the chariot races.
- Italian women sent the filmmakers over 160 kilograms of hair for making wigs and false beards.
- This film was intended to save MGM studio from bankruptcy. And it did – with a budget of $15 million, it grossed $70 million worldwide.
- The film contains no complete stories taken from the Bible. It has two scenes that correspond to some facts outlined in the New Testament.
- The film was not shown in the USSR due to its plot being tied to events from the New Testament and was first shown in Russian only in 1994 on the NTV television channel.
- The film is based on the novel of the same name by American author Lew Wallace.
- Actors from eight countries were invited for the filming, with preference given to European aristocrats.
- After filming, all the sets were destroyed.
- The filmmakers tried to understand what the Jerusalem stadium once looked like. The first archaeologist replied – like a Roman one, the second – like a Phoenician one, and the third was surprised that a stadium existed in Jerusalem at all. They decided to make it look the same as in the 1926 film "Ben-Hur".
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Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
