Jack Huston takes the reins in first look at Timur Bekmambetov’s Ben-Hur

It's not everyday that one of the biggest biblical epics of all time gets remade, but we're just a few short months away from Timur Bekmambetov's adaptation of Lew Wallace's 1880 novel "Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ". This will be the third time we'll be witness to the tale of Judah Ben-Hur on the big-screen, the most famous adaptation being 1959's BEN-HUR which starred Charlton Heston in the lead role. Bekmambetov's take on BEN-HUR stars Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire) and our first look at the film arrived today by way of USA Today.

Those of you who have watched Charlton Heston's BEN-HUR are familiar with the incredible chariot-race sequence which took months to film using one of the biggest sets ever built and utilizing thousands of extras. We're obviously in for a new take on that sequence judging from the images above, but they're going to have to pull out all the stops to even come close to matching that classic sequence. Timur Bekmambetov hopes that he has, saying that the chariot race will be the "crown jewel" of his film. BEN-HUR stars Jack Huston, Toby Kebbell, Rodrigo Santoro, Nazanin Boniadi, Pilou Asbæk, and Morgan Freeman as Ilderim, who trains Ben-Hur. Huston spoke a little about the upcoming film:

There’s something really beautiful about it, especially in the current climate of the world, about different religions and people being at odds against each other. How do we find our way out of this, how do we forgive, how do we forget, how do we move on, how should we treat our fellow human?

BEN-HUR is set for a August 12, 2016 release.