STACK #142 Aug 2016

CINEMA NEWS

visit stack.net.au

WHEN IN ROME Jesus is but a humble carpenter when a prince, Judah Ben-Hur, is wrongfully forced into slavery. After years of hard labour, he sets out to avenge the treacherous Roman friend who betrayed him, culminating in an epic chariot fight. Sound familiar? Words: Gill Pringle

Hur’s story of relinquishing anger. The ability to forgive and say sorry is beautiful. Saying sorry works every time with my girlfriend,” smiles the actor who starred in HBO drama Boardwalk Empire. Undergoing intensive chariot training in Rome with screen nemesis, Toby Kebbell’s Messala, the actors survived a couple of near misses. “Toby and I were doing the finale of the chariot scene where we’re going at it and smashing into each other and, one time, we actually crashed and I got smashed into the wall but managed to get out. It’s very dangerous because you can actually lock wheels, and that’s the last thing you want to happen. There were a few injuries. Luckily Toby and I didn’t injure ourselves but there were a few near misses with some of the stunt guys on other chariots. Luckily no one died.” Shedding 40lbs for his role, he recalls, “Even though we were in Rome, the day I finished with the slave-ship I went to an American café and ordered cheeseburgers, hot-dogs and French-fries. I ate the entire menu.”

T he Ben-Hur story has been told multiple times, the 1959 version starring Charlton Heston earning its place in film history with 11 Oscars. “Ben-who?” quips uber- producer Mark Burnett,

Some BEN-HUR facts

CINEMA

American author Lewis ‘Lew’ Wallace wrote the fictional novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ in 1880. Lew Wallace had been a Union general during the American Civil War. It only sold 3000 copies in the first month but it eventually topped the best sellers list until Gone with the Wind, written by Margaret Mitchell, was released in 1936. Ben-Hur was the first work of fiction to be honoured by the Catholic Church when Pope Leo XIII blessed the novel. Ben-Hur has featured on the big screen three version. The first adaptation was in 1907, the second in 1925 followed by William Wyler’s epic starring Charlton Heston in 1959. times prior to Timur Bekmambetov’s 2016

who hired Russian director Timur Bekmambetov to re- introduce Ben-Hur to new audiences. “I felt this story was worth re-telling. Its message of forgiveness is even more relevant today,” says Burnett, responsible for hit TV shows, The Voice , Survivor , The Apprentice and Shark Tank . When first approached to play Ben- Hur, Brit actor Jack Huston balked at re-enacting Hollywood’s holy cow. The grandson of fabled director John Huston and nephew of Angelica Huston, he grew up in reverence of WilliamWyler’s original epic. “I sort of gaped a little and was like, ‘really?’ But I read it and was so surprised with the re-imagining of this beautiful story, a story I now believe can be told and told again for different audiences,” Huston tells STACK with the weary air of a man already tired of defending his choice. “Whenever someone asks me, ‘Why

would you remake something like Ben-Hur?’ I point out that this is actually the fourth time it’s been remade. There’s always room for a modern audience where a lot of people haven’t seen its predecessor, and we have a lot more at our fingertips, technology-wise. I loved the Wyler version, and I would be the first person to say, ‘Oh, don’t do that,’ if I felt in any way it wasn’t going to hold up. But now I feel we’ve created something incredibly special.“ With his chiseled jaw, piercing blue eyes and mop of black hair, Huston even resembles a bygone matinee idol although he is a thoroughly modern renaissance man who sculpts, paints, writes and has two kids with US model Shannan Click. “I think we can all respond to Ben-

Ben Hur is in cinemas on August 25.

28

AUGUST 2016

jbhifi.com.au