![\"benhur2016-morganfreeman-2\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/227\/2016\/12\/benhur2016-morganfreeman-2.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nBen-Hur<\/a><\/i> was one of the year\u2019s biggest flops, and director Timur Bekmambetov thinks he knows why: he recently told a Russian news agency<\/a> that the film failed at the box office because audiences prefer stories of revenge to stories about forgiveness.<\/p>\n That could<\/i> be one of the reasons the film didn\u2019t do so well, but I can think of a few others, too: the late-August release date, the lousy reviews, the perception that it was a niche \u201cfaith-based\u201d film, and the utter lack of movie stars, to name just four.<\/p>\n There was, of course, one<\/i> recognizable movie star in the film \u2014 i.e. Morgan Freeman \u2014 but he\u2019s only in the second half, in a supporting role that is little more than the mentor figure that Freeman has played in countless other movies. There was nothing all that new or different about the character that made the movie stand out.<\/p>\n Still, Freeman was<\/i> in the cast of this film, and he\u2019s better-known than all the other actors, so it makes sense that the studio \u2014 having already released clips on the making of the chariot-race<\/a> and naval-battle<\/a> sequences \u2014 has released a new clip from the Blu-Ray\u2019s bonus features<\/a> that focuses on Freeman and his role in the film.<\/p>\n Here is the clip, in which Bekmambetov talks about why he cast Freeman in the role, while co-star Jack Huston marvels at Freeman\u2019s powers of memorization:<\/p>\n