Ben-Hur

An exciting story of a slave and a daredevil, retold by the director of "Night Watch" and "Especially Dangerous" Timur Bekmambetov. The descendant of a noble Jewish family, Ben-Hur, is falsely accused of an attempt on the life of his best friend and adopted brother Messala. He is deprived of his title, family and freedom. After several years of slavery with the Romans, Ben-Hurova manages to return to his homeland. He is determined to get revenge on the one who ruined his life, Messali. After meeting Jesus of Nazareth, Ben-Hur changes his life. He challenges his enemy and best friend in one person, offering to take part in a deadly chariot race. Read more The plot of the film "Ben-Hur" is based on the historical novel "Ben-Hur: The Story of Christ" by Lew Wallace of 1880. Adaptation of the book was done by Keith Clark. His script was bought by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 2013. A year later, MGM along with Paramount Pictures announced the creation of a new film adaptation. This will be the third Ben-Hur film, the first two being 1925's Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ and the more famous William Wyler version of 1959's Ben-Hur. The director's chair was taken by Timur Bekmambetov ("Night Watch", "Extremely Dangerous", "President Lincoln: Vampire Hunter"). He said in an interview that he understands the inevitability of comparisons of his work with previous screen adaptations. Therefore, the director wanted to tell the story from a different point of view. Revenge will not occupy a central place in the realistic drama "Ben-Hur", and Bekmambetov decided to show more about the lives of both brothers, and not just one. Initially, the main role in the film was to be performed by Tom Hiddleston ("Thor", "Vysotka"). But he was replaced by Jack Huston ("The American Scam"). Later, Morgan Freeman, Toby Kebbell, Rodrigo Santoro, Nazanin Boniadi and others joined the cast. If not for the filming of "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice", Gal Gadot, who played Wonder Woman, could have starred in Bekmambetov's film. Filming of the film "Ben-Hur" began in early 2015 in Italy and lasted 45 days.