Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins) arrives in Rome with full honors in BEN-HUR (1959)
"What a difference $2 billion in late fall box office business has done for MGM‘s ambitions. The studio is planning to unleash a new version of Ben-Hur, based on the 1880 Lew Wallace novel Ben-Hur: A Tale Of The Christ, which outsold every book but The Bible until it was eclipsed by Gone With The Wind.
MGM, which emerged from bankruptcy and is raising new funding after Skyfall crossed $1 billion worldwide gross and The Hobbit heads to the $900 million mark, is buying a Ben-Hur spec by Keith Clarke (he scripted the Peter Weir-directed The Way Back), and the package comes with Sean Daniel and Joni Levin attached to produce, and Clarke and Jason Brown exec producing."
There are two famous versions of BEN-HUR: one made in 1925 and the other in 1959. I'll write more about this but the questions are: is this a good idea? And who should star in the lead roles?
4 comments:
Your question is a good one and as far as I'm concerned it would be a good idea as long as they do it RIGHT which Hollywood is not good at, especially with the remakes they have turned out lately. Two great versions is enough and remember there was no CGI used in their making.
Not at all. I assume that there will be little originality in the film (as the news about this remake itself proves; Hollywood ran out of original ideas long time ago), but lot of gore and gloom instead (and I bet, a hefty amount of promotion of a more than friendly relationship between Ben-Hur and Messala as well). Well, I am looking forward to none of these.
The 1959 version plays here in the UK almost every week on our TCM channel, I like to drop in for a while, particularly when Hawkins is on and of course the chariot race. It all looks great and those dependables like Finlay Currie and Hugh Griffith deliver. Boyd really should have won the supporting actor award as he is the black heart of the film. Great score too. I got the silent version in the 3 disk dvd pack, I really must have a look at it.
i don't think there is an equivalent actor to heston nowadays - probably the closest would be russell crowe - and i don't mean in terms of acting talent alone but combination of fame, audience drawing power, looks, machismo, style, etc. : why are we going back to the epic and the superhero i wonder?
a book of obligatory reading for ben hur afficiandos "Playing Out Empire"
http://www.amazon.com/Playing-Out-Empire-1883-1908-Anthology/dp/0198119909
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