There was a time when it looked like MGM would have to sell off everything and stop producing films. Now, with cash flowing in from Skyfall and The Hobbit, the studio is once more hunting for properties like a child running round Hamleys. It now looks like the executives have their beady eye on a new version of Ben Hur.Though Lew Wallace’s 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale Of The Christ was adapted – by MGM itself – into the iconic, Oscar-scoring 1959 classic starring Charlton Heston, the studio thinks the time has come for a new interpretation. By which we don't mean the little-seen 2010 miniseries. Though MGM sold the rights to the movie in the 1980s, the book has long since entered the public domain, so the way is clear for this second stab. The Way Back’s Keith Clarke has come up with a spec script that is apparently more faithful to the tome.
- 1/15/2013
- EmpireOnline
$15 million stadium adaptation. 15,000 square meters of arena stage. 400 costumes, 200 back stage crew, 216 actors, 124 soldiers, 36 horsemen, 32 horses, 26 gladiators, 9 chariots and 5 Arabian dancers. Although there is no partridge in a pear tree, the stadium extravaganza Ben Hur boasts a production of biblical proportions. Claiming to be the biggest theatrical event to be seen in Australia, Ben Hur- The Stadium Spectacular makes its way direct from Europe to grace our shores for two nights of mind-blowing theatre, at the Anz Olympic Stadium in Sydney. Running over October 22-23, French director Robert Hossein will revive and rejuvenate the Ben Hur legend as made famous by the 1959 Academy Award winning film and the runaway best- selling novel by Lew Wallace, first printed in 1880.
- 3/17/2010
- FilmInk.com.au
Canadian production company Muse Entertainment has announced the beginning of principal photography for a new television adapation of Ben Hur. The finished film will air as a miniseries with a cast that includes Joseph Morgan, Stephen Campbell, Ray Winstone, Kristen Kreuk (Lana Lang in Smallville), Alex Kingston and Art Malik.
Muse is co-producing Ben Hur with companies from Spain, Morocco, Germany and the United States. Shooting is currently taking place in Morocco. Among the people named as producers is David Wyler, the son of William Wyler. The senior Wyler directed the 1959 film version of Ben Hur starring Charlton Heston. That film won 11 Academy Awards.
The press release from Muse announcing the start of filming is below.
Los Angeles, Barcelona, Berlin, Montreal: May 5, 2009 - The legendary story of Ben Hur began principal photography May 4, 2009 and is being produced for the first time for television. Based on the original 1880’s novel by Lew Wallace,...
Muse is co-producing Ben Hur with companies from Spain, Morocco, Germany and the United States. Shooting is currently taking place in Morocco. Among the people named as producers is David Wyler, the son of William Wyler. The senior Wyler directed the 1959 film version of Ben Hur starring Charlton Heston. That film won 11 Academy Awards.
The press release from Muse announcing the start of filming is below.
Los Angeles, Barcelona, Berlin, Montreal: May 5, 2009 - The legendary story of Ben Hur began principal photography May 4, 2009 and is being produced for the first time for television. Based on the original 1880’s novel by Lew Wallace,...
- 5/6/2009
- CinemaSpy
ABC is bringing Ben Hur to the small screen. The network will air a new four hour mini-series based on Lew Wallace’s famous novel. Steve Shill, whose directed episodes of Rome, The Sopranos, Dexter and The Tudors, is on board to direct. Alan Sharp (Rob Roy, The Osterman Weekend) penned the screenplay. Hur centers on a Jewish prince who is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend. He regains his freedom and comes back for revenge. It was previously adapted to the big screen by director William Wyler, a film that starred Charlton Heston and won 11 Oscars, including best picture. Wallace’s novel was published on November 12, 1880 and became the best-selling American novel until the 1936 publication of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. The book was also the first work of fiction to be blessed by a Pope. William Wyler’s son, David Wyler, will executive produce the miniseries.
- 3/27/2009
- by James Cook
- TheMovingPicture.net
Movie classic Ben Hur is to be turned into a live action show for a new London spectacular.
German producer Franz Abraham has spent the last 15 years devising the multi-million dollar production and it will finally be seen by audiences when it debuts at the capital's O2 Arena next year.
The show will feature special light, sound, water, wind and pyrotechnic effects, as well as 100 animals, including horses, donkeys, camels, chickens and eagles.
The highlight of the epic promises to be the climatic chariot race as depicted by Charlton Heston in the Oscar winning 1959 film, based on the novel Ben Hur - A Tale of Christ by Lew Wallace.
The historical story will be played out with a full symphonic soundtrack created by Hollywood producer Klaus Badelt.
Abraham says, "I have aimed to create something completely new, with a high level of artistry, that would excite the audience. The show will have the speed of a musical, the depth of great theatre, the power of a rock concert and the visual opulence of a Hollywood blockbuster."
Ben Hur Live will have its world premiere on 15 September 2009.
German producer Franz Abraham has spent the last 15 years devising the multi-million dollar production and it will finally be seen by audiences when it debuts at the capital's O2 Arena next year.
The show will feature special light, sound, water, wind and pyrotechnic effects, as well as 100 animals, including horses, donkeys, camels, chickens and eagles.
The highlight of the epic promises to be the climatic chariot race as depicted by Charlton Heston in the Oscar winning 1959 film, based on the novel Ben Hur - A Tale of Christ by Lew Wallace.
The historical story will be played out with a full symphonic soundtrack created by Hollywood producer Klaus Badelt.
Abraham says, "I have aimed to create something completely new, with a high level of artistry, that would excite the audience. The show will have the speed of a musical, the depth of great theatre, the power of a rock concert and the visual opulence of a Hollywood blockbuster."
Ben Hur Live will have its world premiere on 15 September 2009.
- 11/6/2008
- WENN
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