Ben Hur Remake

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deadline.com/2015/01/sofia-black-delia-cast-ben-hur-1201348515/

Sofia Black-D’Elia Lands ‘Ben-Hur’ Role

Skins and Gossip Girl actress Sofia Black-D’Elia has been cast opposite Jack Huston, Morgan Freeman, and Toby Kebbell in Ben-Hur, which Timur Bekmambetov is directing for MGM and Paramount Pictures.

The historical epic chronicles the blood feud between Judah Ben-Hur (Huston) and Messala that erupts when Messala (Kebbell) condemns his childhood friend to slavery and certain death aboard a Roman warship.

Black-D’Elia will take the role of Tirzah, Judah’s sister who becomes quietly political when the Roman Empire takes control of Jerusalem. She is imprisoned alongside her mother and both contract leprosy before Judah returns home to free his family and avenge them all.

Ben hurProduced by The Bible’s Mark Burnett, Keith Clarke, Jason Brown and Sean Daniel for The Sean Daniel Company, and Joni Levin for Point Blank Productions, the remake will hew more closely to the 1880 Lew Wallace novel Ben-Hur: A Tale Of The Christ than the 1959 Charlton Heston classic. Burnett’s Bible collaborator Roma Downey is executive producing for their MGM-based LightWorkers Media.

Game of Thrones’ Pedro Pascal and Homeland’s Nazanin Boniadi have also joined the film, which begins shooting soon in Europe for a February 26, 2016 release.

Black-D’Elia landed the role after completing another film for Paramount, the upcoming Michael Bay-produced time travel sci-fi pic Project Almanac (Jan. 30). Earlier this year she was cast in the Blumhouse, IM Global, and Dimension outbreak thriller Viral opposite Analeigh Tipton. The 23-year-old thesp also stars in the upcoming CW series The Messengers, set to premiere April 10.

Black-D’Elia is repped by ICM Partners and Brookside Artist Management.

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variety.com/2015/film/news/rodrigo-santoro-ben-hur-jesus-casting-1201404382/

Rodrigo Santoro to Play Jesus in ‘Ben-Hur’

“300: Rise of an Empire” star Rodrigo Santoro is in negotiations to portray Jesus in the “Ben-Hur” reboot for MGM and Paramount.

Mark Burnett, Sean Daniel and Joni Levin are producing the film, set for release on Feb. 26, 2016.

“Wanted” director Timur Bekmambetov is helming from a screenplay originally written by Keith Clarke, with revisions by “12 Years a Slave” writer John Ridley, who will exec produce along with Clarke and Jason F. Brown.

The project began taking shape in 2013 when MGM acquired Clarke’s script, an adaptation of Lew Wallace’s 1880 novel “Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.” That story focuses on the years prior to those portrayed the 1959 film, centering on the characters Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish prince and merchant in Jerusalem, and his childhood friend Messala, who returns home as a commanding officer of the Roman legions and betrays the Ben-Hur family.

The novel is in the public domain. The 1959 movie, which was set in ancient Rome, was directed by William Wyler and produced by Sam Zimbalist. It starred Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Jack Hawkins and Hugh Griffith and won 11 Oscars, including best picture.

The 1925 movie version of “Ben-Hur,” starring Ramon Novarro and Francis X. Bushman, was also a major success.

The reboot stars Jack Huston as the titular Jewish prince betrayed into slavery by Messala, played by Toby Kebbell.

Santoro is in Warner Bros.’ “Focus” with Will Smith and Margot Robbie. He’s repped by ICM Partners and Brillstein Entertainment.

News was first reported by the Hollywood Reporter.