Ben Hur: Rodrigo Santoro and Jack Huston in new photos from the set

Continuing in that of Matera filming of the new film version of Ben-Hur and the web have appeared some new photos from the set, showing Rodrigo Santoro, Jack Huston and Nazanin Boniadi ...

Continuing in that of Matera filming of the new film version of Ben-Hur and the web have appeared some new photos from the set, showing Rodrigo Santoro (famous for playing Xerxes in 300 saga, here in the role of Jesus) and a romantic moment between the protagonist Jack Huston and Nazanin Boniadi, who plays the slave girl Esther.

The numbers brought in herald a real blockbuster: more than 2,500 extras and 400 crew members. For a month the work will take place in Matera, then the production will move to Cinecittà, to turn the interior of the film on soundstages.

The film will be directed by Timur Bekmambetov, the director of Wanted and the not so lucky Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and we will find the star in the cast of Boardwalk Empire Jack Huston, in the title role of Judah Ben-Hur, Morgan Freeman, in the role of Ildarin (the man who will coach Ben-Hur), and Rodrigo Santoro, actor seen in films such as 300 and 300: Dawn of an Empire, which was chosen to play the role of Jesus.

The screenplay was instead entrusted to John Ridley, who won an Oscar for 12 years and has also directed Jimi Slave: All Is By My Side, the unofficial biopic about the life of the legendary guitarist and songwriter African American Jimi Hendrix.

From what we know, this new film will not be a remake of the well-known film (from 11 Oscars) directed by William Wyler in 1959. Rather, the script will be based on the novel by Lew Wallace, Ben-Hur (Ben-Hur: A Tale Of the Christ), one of the best-selling books in the world after the Bible and Gone with the Wind. The study, behind the creation of the silent film of 1927 and the one played by Charlton Heston in 1959, preferred to use the book as the basis of the new film, since it is in the public domain, because it no longer has the rights of William Wyler, sold in the eighties to Ted Turner. The film is scheduled for February 26, 2016.