It's one thing to have the concept for another cinematic take on Lew Wallace's novel Ben-Hur. It's quite another to see Jack Huston filling a role once made famous (and famously Oscar-winning) by Charlton Heston. But the first images from the new movie have arrived.
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov, this latest Ben-Hur pledges to skirt closer to Wallace's book than the 1959 film. It'll chronicle the younger days of Ben-Hur and Messala (Toby Kebbell), best friends growing up in Jerusalem. Ben-Hur is a Jewish prince and Messala the son of a Roman tax collector who is packed off to be educated in Rome for five years. Upon his return, Messala mocks our hero for his religion and, after an accident he pins on his friend, has him sold into slavery. Cue a quest for revenge that includes the chariot race made iconic by the Heston film. Which is definitely included again this time, with Huston and his director spent more than two months rehearsing.
“You get in with two horses on a chariot, which blows your mind, and then you put four horses on the end of your reins,” Huston tells USA Today. “It would be the equivalent of a Formula 1 race. "It's overwhelming and incredibly scary. But after the first day where you think every second, ‘I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die,’ you decide to put that out of your brain for good and it becomes just part of the job.”
Morgan Freeman is also aboard to play Ildarin, the man who teaches Ben-Hur how to be a master at the reins for the races, while Nazanin Boniadi is Esther, Rodrigo Santoro is Jesus and Pilou Asbaek is Pontius Pilate. Ben-Hur is out in the UK on August 26 and we would be shocked – shocked! – if these initial images didn't portend the coming of a trailer either this week or very soon after.