Time for another snippet from SlashFilm’s interview with Ben-Hur director Timur Bekmambetov. Last week he said the film will be “a realistic, deep drama” that uses a “very grounded” style of filmmaking. In today’s snippet, he talks about how that approach will apply to the story’s famous chariot-race sequence.
Here are the relevant sections from today’s snippet:
We shoot everything in the Italy. We built 1,000-foot-long surface, with a track, stands, and gates. We had 90 horses trained for several months, to be able to race. We built very unique chariots based on original references, which is very different from previous movies, because usually chariots are like these huge battle axes [Laughs]. In reality, it was a very low, almost Formula 1-type of design. It was very difficult to race, because nothing protects you. You’re just staying on a bench with two wheels, flying with a 40 or 50 mph speed, with a lot of horses around you. It was very, very dangerous work. . . . We shot it in Rome, in Cinecittá studio, and also found a great medieval town, Latera. What’s interesting is — it’s all real. We shot chariot race for 45 days. It was 45 days with a crowd, horses, and great stunt drivers. Phil Neilson is a very good person, the second unit director, and he was my hero. He helped me make it right.
For comparison, the chariot race in the 1959 film reportedly used 78 horses and shot for five weeks on a set with 1,500-foot straightaways — so it sounds like the new film had a shorter racetrack but took longer to shoot and used more horses.
Bekmambetov also spoke about his approach to the chariot race one year ago:
“I’m using more of YouTube videos to find ideas and style for the camera work and how people behave,” the director admitted. “The chariot race today is like Formula 1. It’s a different technique, with a lot of whip pans and zooming [and VFX by Mr. X].” And there’s an assortment of digital cameras being used on the movie (Red, Alexa, GoPro).
“But it’s a real race with 32 horses running in a cloud of dust and the actors love it,” Bekmambetov said about the six-week chariot shoot.
The chariot-race sequence in the 1959 film lasts about 17 minutes altogether. You can watch about seven minutes from the beginning and ending of that sequence here:
The new version of Ben-Hur comes to theatres August 12.
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