With Timur Bekmambetov in place to direct, John Ridley figuring out the latest script draft and a 2016 release date racing towards MGM and Paramount like a runaway chariot, it appears the team behind the new **Ben-Hur **adaptation have a leading man in mind for the remake. Their choice? Tom Hiddleston.
Before you start writing your Hur-ddleston fan fiction and dreaming up costume concepts, pull back on the reins. He’s only being wooed to take the part so far; talks have yet to even commence and Hiddleston is a man in demand, and is being courted for the likes of Me Before You (which is also produced by MGM, so that could likely be worked out).
Taken once again from Lew Wallace’s 1880 novel, the new version aims to follow more of the younger days of Judah Ben-Hur and Messala, best friends growing up in Jerusalem before the Roman Empire takes over. 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, he mocks our hero for his religion, and, after an accident he pins on his friend, even finds a way for him to be sold into slavery. Cue a quest for revenge that culminates (at least in the 1959 Charlton Heston film) in the iconic chariot race.
Hiddleston has recently worked on Ben Wheatley’s latest**, High-Rise** and will be seen next year in Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak. He’s also busy acting (and singing) as Hank Williams in musical biopic I Saw The Light.