Hold onto your chariots, Tom Hiddleston is slated to play none other than Ben-Hur in a reboot of the 1959 classic.
It’s been 55 years since the hero first rumbled into cinemas, cementing Charlton Heston as a genuine star, and now Deadline reports that the Avengers star is being lined up to follow his lead in director Timur Bekmambetov’s remake of the swords and epic due for release in early 2016.
Recently scripted by Keith Clarke, the new version is set to be given some final touches by Oscar winning scribe John Ridley, still hot from 12 Years A Slave, who’ll be dealing with similar themes of vengeance and faith once more as our protagonist Judah Ben-Hur survives years of slavery to seek out his best friend who betrayed him for some serious payback.
It’s shaping up to be a big couple of years for Hiddleston, who already has Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak in the pipeline, and he should have no doubts about this one being successful. With Ridley Scott's Exodus on the horizon and Noah having already flooded box offices, there's no question these sort of big budget tales are big business right now.
As for us, let’s hope he sets those chariots on fire.
[Images: Allstar]
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