A month or so ago Man Of Steel's Ayelet Zurer was in the frame. Before her we were talking about Gal Gadot, who had to drop out in favour of the small indie comic-book curios Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice and Wonder Woman. This morning Timur Bekmambetov's new Ben-Hur finally has its female lead. Homeland star Nazanin Boniadi has grabbed the gig, fending off plenty of other competition by performing the best "chemistry read" with the toplining Jack Huston.
Huston is, of course, Judah Ben-Hur himself, with Boniadi playing Esther, the daughter of the slave Simonides.
Taken once again from Lew Wallace’s 1880 novel, the new version aims to 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 (in the 1959 Charlton Heston film, at any rate) the iconic chariot race.
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.
Boniadi was previously in Iron Man and The Next Three Days, and was the original Girl in Ana Lily Amirpour's short A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (now replaced by Sheila Vand for the feature version). She's currently shooting the fifth season of Homeland, in which she plays CIA operative Fara Sherazi.
Bekmambetov plans to start cranking his Ben-Hur cameras early next year in Italy, for a release on February 19, 2016.