![\"benhur-uk-b\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/227\/2016\/08\/benhur-uk-b.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAnother week, another round-up of Ben-Hur<\/a><\/i>-themed news items.<\/p>\n Last week<\/a> I passed on a report that the film would have its world premiere in Mexico City tomorrow night, but it turns out the film had a premiere in Brazil<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n A clip of Pilate addressing the crowd before the chariot race<\/a> was released online.<\/p>\n The Hollywood Reporter<\/a><\/i> spoke to director Timur Bekmambetov:<\/p>\n Was it intimidating to take on an iconic story in remaking Ben-Hur<\/i>?<\/b><\/p>\n It was scary. It\u2019s a great, great book. It\u2019s very unique because it\u2019s a fictional version of the biblical story. It\u2019s very rare when you have material with a message. And at the same time, it\u2019s very entertaining because of the unbelievable naval battles and chariot races. But I like to take a risk and do something nobody wants to try. The 1959 movie is not the same as the book, which has a very different message. The book was written about forgiveness, and the movie they made in 1959 \u2014 a great movie \u2014 it\u2019s about revenge and miracles. Our movie is different.<\/p>\n How did you find your lead, Jack Huston?<\/b><\/p>\n Jack Huston came to read Messala\u2019s lines. After I met him, I called the studio and said, \u201cI think we found Judah.\u201d And it was very symptomatic that he likes Messala\u2019s character because in this movie, Messala and Judah are both likable. It\u2019s not good boy versus bad boy. They\u2019re not fighting with each other; they\u2019re both fighting with fate, with fate testing them, testing their love, their brotherhood. When we found Jack, it was really easy to pick Toby Kebbell because he was the perfect opposite.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Film Journal<\/a><\/i> also spoke to Bekmambetov:<\/p>\n Wallace, Bekmambetov explains, was a Union general writing in the aftermath of the Civil War. In creating his-best known work, he came less from a place of \u201ctrying to destroy your enemy\u201d than guilt at the brother-vs.-brother conflict that had just ravaged his nation. The book presents \u201ca very emotional story,\u201d Bekmambetov says, and one that\u2019s \u201cvery different from other Ben-Hur<\/i> movies.\u201d . . .<\/p>\n While Ben-Hur<\/i> has a \u201cdifferent tone\u201d than the rest of Bekmambetov\u2019s oeuvre, \u201cit\u2019s about the same things: violence, power, success,\u201d he argues. \u201cBut it\u2019s the next iteration. For the first time, I found material where it\u2019s not about who\u2019s tougher or who\u2019s braver. It\u2019s about human values. That\u2019s why it was interesting to me.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The New Yorker<\/a><\/i> has our first interview with Morgan Freeman, who plays Ilderim:<\/p>\n In the 2016 version, Ilderim has been reconceived. Gone are the eructations and the casual racism. Ilderim now seems to be the biggest figure in the movie\u2014Freeman towers over Jack Huston, the British actor playing Ben-Hur.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no humor in him at all,\u201d Freeman said. \u201cThis character has quite a bit of power in the story. And I like playing power. It\u2019s something about my own personal ego.\u201d<\/p>\n Freeman added, \u201cI have my own chariots and horses. I gamble on them and I make a lot of money, because the Romans are so idiotic. One line I have, I say, \u2018Was there ever a kind more obsessed with the obscene?\u2019 Nice line.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Cal Thomas<\/a> included a brief quote from producer Roma Downey in his article on the film (warning: he also gives away how this version of the story ends):<\/p>\n I asked Roma Downey why she and Mark took on such a project. She replied in an email that while the central theme is about reconciliation and forgiveness, \u201cIt\u2019s not specifically a faith movie \u2026 it\u2019s an action adventure drama, but it holds in its heart a story of hope. This is the balm our hurting world needs. This is why a Ben-Hur release for 2016 makes sense. We need this message in our country and in our world right now.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Downey, incidentally, is getting a star<\/a> on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday.<\/p>\n The Catholic World Report<\/a><\/i> spoke to Downey and her husband Mark Burnett:<\/p>\n CWR:<\/b> And Toby Kebbell plays Messala, his friend turned rival.<\/p>\n Downey:<\/b> Toby sizzles on screen. Physically, he just brings it. He\u2019s good-looking. He\u2019s grounded. He\u2019s strong, and he inherently has such intelligence and depth. <\/p>\n We believe he loves Judah, and the thing that drives him through the second half of the movie is that love and disappointment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n DeWayne Hamby<\/a> and Breitbart News<\/a> interviewed Downey and Burnett too:<\/p>\n DH: Can you talk about what all went into making a movie like this?<\/b><\/p>\n MB: It\u2019s a very large budget movie. You see these big summer blockbusters and part of what causes the enormity of the budgets are the special effects and the experience of 3D that young audiences are expecting. As we mentioned to you guys last night, from a Christian audience perspective, it\u2019s very important to make content that would stand on its own whether it was Christian focused or not. It needs to stand on its own and be high quality in order to attract a wide audience. If it happens to also have a message of forgiveness and love and redemption and the story of Jesus woven in right, that\u2019s actually the right approach. Because you can\u2019t be expecting young secular Americans to be attracted to watch a movie that doesn\u2019t have the right trailer and the feeling that it\u2019s a big action, summer exciting movie. Remember what you\u2019re up against, look at the slate of this summer. People only have so much money to go to so many movies and so you\u2019ve got to offer something pretty epic. Also, it being Ben-Hur<\/i>, if you\u2019re going to reimagine Ben-Hur<\/i>, you\u2019ve got to do it for a new generation. It\u2019s the same story but it feels more present for a younger generation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n