Just thinking about BEN-HUR stuff.
Can there ever be too much Morgan Freeman? No, no there can’t. Now that that's settled, if Freeman being cast in TED 2 wasn’t enough for you, the busy man has landed another major role in the remake of BEN-HUR. The movie is looking to start production early next year and the first formal casting has Morgan Freeman playing the role of Ildarin who teaches Ben-Hur how to ride his chariot like a champ. The next rounds of casting will hopefully be that of Judah Ben-Hur and his friend turned enemy Messala.
This version will focus on the blood feud between Judah Ben-Hur and Messala, who grew up best friends before the Roman Empire took control of Jerusalem. Judah Ben-Hur was a Jewish prince and Messala the son of a Roman tax collector. After the latter leaves to be educated in Rome for five years, the young man returns with a different attitude and mocks Judah and his religion. When a procession passes by Judah’s house and a roof tile accidentally falls and hits the governor, Messala betrays his childhood friend and manipulates the accident so that Judah is sold into slavery and certain death on a Roman warship, with his mother and sister thrown in prison for life. Judah vows revenge, culminating in the famed chariot races.
It’s been reported that Tom Hiddleston was wanted for the lead role but nothing has changed on that front. Oscar-winning 12 YEARS A SLAVE screenwriter John Ridley wrote the script which gives the story of Jesus Christ a more prominent spotlight this time around. It will be based more closely on the 1880 Lew Wallace novel “Ben-Hur: A Tale Of The Christ”.
BEN-HUR will be released February 26, 2016.
Wanna bet they get Andy Serkis to play all the horses?
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