Variety reports that Toby Kebbell is in “early talks” to play Messala, the Roman officer who betrays the title character, a former friend of his, in the upcoming remake of Ben-Hur. The part was played by Francis X. Bushman in the 1925 film, Stephen Boyd in the 1959 film and Stephen Campbell Moore in the 2010 miniseries. Kebbell has played a number of bad guys lately, in films like Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot, and he has dipped his toe in the Greco-Roman genre via Wrath of the Titans and Oliver Stone’s Alexander. Kebbell joins Jack Huston, who is playing the part of Judah Ben-Hur himself, and Morgan Freeman, who will play the charioteer-training Ildarin.
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