{"id":33623,"date":"2015-06-26T11:27:14","date_gmt":"2015-06-26T18:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?p=33623"},"modified":"2015-06-26T11:27:14","modified_gmt":"2015-06-26T18:27:14","slug":"ben-hur-footage-has-been-revealed-but-not-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2015\/06\/ben-hur-footage-has-been-revealed-but-not-online.html","title":{"rendered":"Ben-Hur<\/i> footage has been revealed — but not online"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"ben-hur-chariotrace\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now that A.D. The Bible Continues<\/a><\/i> has come to an end, it\u2019s time for Mark Burnett and Roma Downey to promote their next<\/i> Jesus-movie project. And so it came to pass yesterday that they, along with Paramount chief Rob Moore, brought some clips from their upcoming adaptation of Ben-Hur<\/a><\/i> to Variety<\/i> magazine\u2019s \u2018Purpose Summit\u2019, a gathering of movie types discussing so-called \u201cfaith-based\u201d entertainment.<\/p>\n

The New York Times<\/a><\/i> describes the footage that was shown:<\/p>\n

Scenes showed at the summit involved plenty of action, but also included a direct shot of the Crucifixion and several references to underlying themes about mercy and forgiveness. They were intercut with video assurances by Mark Burnett, who is a producer of the film, and Rodrigo Santoro, who plays Jesus, that the expectations of the faithful will be honored by this one.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Variety<\/a><\/i> adds:<\/p>\n

Burnett and Downey screened a 30-second clip of the iconic chariot race scene. Earlier in the day, Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore showed off an extended \u201cBen Hur\u201d clip that included behind-the-scenes material, which marked the first glimpse that the studio has offered anywhere of the pic.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It has never been entirely clear to me just how involved Burnett and Downey are on the creative side of this film; given that the project already had a director and a finished screenplay, I have always assumed that Burnett and Downey were brought on board<\/a> largely to help sell<\/i> the film to Christian audiences (the same way Lifetime got them to produce a documentary on The Women of the Bible<\/a><\/i> to help promote The Red Tent<\/a><\/i>, a miniseries that took major liberties with the book of Genesis).<\/p>\n

For his part, Moore said Paramount is hoping that Ben-Hur<\/i> can avoid the backlash that the studio endured on Noah<\/a><\/i> \u2014 a film that Moore, who is himself a Christian<\/a>, greenlit because he thought Christians would appreciate it<\/a> \u2014 and to that end, Moore said Burnett and Downey were brought on board to \u201creally help to make sure the telling of Christ\u2019s story in the movie worked well together as a great story.\u201d<\/p>\n

In keeping with that goal, Variety<\/i> reports:<\/p>\n

Downey spent a great deal of time on the set in Italy, serving as the \u201cguiding light,\u201d ensuring that the spirit of the story of one man\u2019s persecution and redemption remained intact.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Plus:<\/p>\n

The couple hired an advisory board of 40 spiritual leaders to produce \u201cThe Bible<\/a>,\u201d and they had nearly as many engaged as consultants on \u201cBen Hur.\u201d \u201cWe brought (some of) the most important faith leaders to Rome onto the set of \u2018Ben-Hur,\u2019 \u201d Burnett said. He noted that many of them took the opportunity to snap photos in the chariots.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Burnett and Downey also talked about the vast untapped \u201cfaith-based\u201d audience and the need for accuracy and authenticity when adapting the Bible. No one, as far as I can tell, mentioned the falling ratings<\/a> for A.D. The Bible Continues<\/i> or the fact that many Christians have grumbled about that show\u2019s deviations from the biblical text.<\/p>\n

\u2014 The photo above is from the famous 1959 version of <\/i>Ben-Hur, natch.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Footage shown at a gathering of filmmakers included bits of the chariot race and the crucifixion of Jesus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[411,2202,51,1888,2731,52],"class_list":["post-33623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-ben-hur","tag-ben-hur-2016","tag-mark-burnett","tag-rob-moore","tag-rodrigo-santoro","tag-roma-downey"],"yoast_head":"\nBen-Hur footage has been revealed -- but not online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Footage shown at a gathering of filmmakers included bits of the chariot race and the crucifixion of Jesus.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2015\/06\/ben-hur-footage-has-been-revealed-but-not-online.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ben-Hur footage has been revealed -- but not online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Footage shown at a gathering of filmmakers included bits of the chariot race and the crucifixion of Jesus.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2015\/06\/ben-hur-footage-has-been-revealed-but-not-online.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-26T18:27:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/files\/2015\/06\/ben-hur-chariotrace.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. Chattaway\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter T. Chattaway\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2015\/06\/ben-hur-footage-has-been-revealed-but-not-online.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2015\/06\/ben-hur-footage-has-been-revealed-but-not-online.html\",\"name\":\"Ben-Hur footage has been revealed -- but not online\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-26T18:27:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-26T18:27:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde\"},\"description\":\"Footage shown at a gathering of filmmakers included bits of the chariot race and the crucifixion of Jesus.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2015\/06\/ben-hur-footage-has-been-revealed-but-not-online.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2015\/06\/ben-hur-footage-has-been-revealed-but-not-online.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2015\/06\/ben-hur-footage-has-been-revealed-but-not-online.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ben-Hur footage has been revealed — but not online\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/\",\"name\":\"FilmChat\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde\",\"name\":\"Peter T. Chattaway\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Peter T. Chattaway\"},\"description\":\"Peter T. Chattaway was the regular film critic for BC Christian News from 1992 to 2011. In addition to his award-winning film column for that paper, his news and opinion pieces have appeared in such publications as Books & Culture, Christianity Today, Bible Review and the Vancouver Sun. He has also contributed essays to the books Re-Viewing The Passion: Mel Gibson\u2019s Film and Its Critics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), Scandalizing Jesus?: Kazantzakis\u2019s The Last Temptation of Christ Fifty Years on (Continuum, 2005) and The Bible in Motion: A Handbook of the Bible and Its Reception in Film (De Gruyter, 2016).\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/author\/peterchattaway\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ben-Hur footage has been revealed -- but not online","description":"Footage shown at a gathering of filmmakers included bits of the chariot race and the crucifixion of Jesus.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2015\/06\/ben-hur-footage-has-been-revealed-but-not-online.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ben-Hur footage has been revealed -- but not online","og_description":"Footage shown at a gathering of filmmakers included bits of the chariot race and the crucifixion of Jesus.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2015\/06\/ben-hur-footage-has-been-revealed-but-not-online.html","og_site_name":"FilmChat","article_published_time":"2015-06-26T18:27:14+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/files\/2015\/06\/ben-hur-chariotrace.png"}],"author":"Peter T. Chattaway","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter T. Chattaway","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2015\/06\/ben-hur-footage-has-been-revealed-but-not-online.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2015\/06\/ben-hur-footage-has-been-revealed-but-not-online.html","name":"Ben-Hur footage has been revealed -- but not online","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-06-26T18:27:14+00:00","dateModified":"2015-06-26T18:27:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde"},"description":"Footage shown at a gathering of filmmakers included bits of the chariot race and the crucifixion of Jesus.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2015\/06\/ben-hur-footage-has-been-revealed-but-not-online.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2015\/06\/ben-hur-footage-has-been-revealed-but-not-online.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2015\/06\/ben-hur-footage-has-been-revealed-but-not-online.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ben-Hur footage has been revealed — but not online"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/","name":"FilmChat","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde","name":"Peter T. Chattaway","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Peter T. Chattaway"},"description":"Peter T. Chattaway was the regular film critic for BC Christian News from 1992 to 2011. In addition to his award-winning film column for that paper, his news and opinion pieces have appeared in such publications as Books & Culture, Christianity Today, Bible Review and the Vancouver Sun. He has also contributed essays to the books Re-Viewing The Passion: Mel Gibson\u2019s Film and Its Critics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), Scandalizing Jesus?: Kazantzakis\u2019s The Last Temptation of Christ Fifty Years on (Continuum, 2005) and The Bible in Motion: A Handbook of the Bible and Its Reception in Film (De Gruyter, 2016).","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/author\/peterchattaway"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33623\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}