Ben Hur: Mini-series Update

I must admit that Peter Chattaway is generally far better at discovering the latest Bible film news than I am, and he posted a number of different items over the weekend.

For now, I'll just deal with the news regarding the new TV miniseries of Ben Hur which plays at next week's MIPCOM. Production company Alchemy have released some posters and flyers, whose taglines have caused some comment. The main poster is the one on the right. It's clearly been heavily influenced by the publicity for 300, and the tagline suggests this may also be true of the script. Whereas the 1925 version of this story had the subtitle "A Tale of the Christ", the TV series has opted for "Rome made him a slave. Revenge set him free." It's not just a different angle, but the whole premise of the original story was that the desire for revenge was a more powerful master than the Romans had ever been.

However, the one of the left is from a selection of flyers and posters, and it's tagline is "An epic tale of revenge and redemption", which would have fitted General Wallace's work, and its three film adaptations. It remains to be seen whether this new version will still hinge around Ben Hur's encounters with Jesus, or whether the source of his redemption will be something else.

Edit: Alchemy just posted an updated version of their website and the Ben Hur pages feature a few production photos and the following description:

Based on the classic novel by Lew Wallace, BEN HUR tells the story of a young man whose best friend betrays him, sending him into exile, slavery, and near certain death. Through his skill as a chariot driver, Ben Hur triumphs over his enemies and eventually finds peace through forgiveness.