Russian director Timor Bekmambetov, who made NIGHTWATCH, DAYWATCH, WANTED and ABRAHAM LINCOLN VAMPIRE HUNTER all of which included some utterly insane and gravity defying scenes, has been given the task of remaking Ben Hur. Everyone knows the Charlton Heston 1959 version which itself was a remake of a 1925 version bu with the 1959 version winning an enormous number of Oscars its the chariot race that everyone remembers. Made in an age before CGI this was real time, live action danger. If you’ve seen any of Timor’s previous films you’ll know that he’s a keen user of CGI for his bonkers mad set pieces.
Quite how his version of Ben Hur will turn out when it’s released in the Summer is anyone’s guess but here’s a little featurette about his version of the chariot race which, for him, seems quite restrained but its early days yet and this will also be in 3D so we can probably expect to see horses, chariots et al being thrown at us. We’ll keep you posted….
