Rodrigo Santoro (300: Rise on an Empire) is in final negotiations to play Jesus Christ in the upcoming MGM and Paramount Pictures in Ben-Hur, the remake of the 1959 Charlton Heston classic.
Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted, Night Watch) is directing the movie, which is an adaptation of the Lew Wallace novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ published in 1880. Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire) is portraying the title character, with Toby Kebbell (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) playing Messala, the friend who betrays him into slavery. Rounding out the cast are Olivia Cooke (The Signal), Ayelet Zurer (Man of Steel), Sofia Black D’Elia (The Immigrant) and Academy Award Winner Morgan Freeman (The Dark Knight Rises) as the man who trains Ben-Hur.
Shooting for the film is expected to start later this year, with a 2016 release date scheduled.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&list=PL18yMRIfoszH_jfuJoo8HCG1-lGjvfH2F&v=usnScWU5JkY
Originally published January 14, 2015. Updated April 15, 2018.
