Who Should Play the New, Younger Ben-Hur?

BuzzSugar — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 11:30:18 PDT

Right on the heels of Charlton Heston's death earlier this week, there's news of a television miniseries version of one of Heston's biggest projects: Ben-Hur. They are, however, keeping it in the family with David Wyler, son of the 1959 Ben-Hur director William Wyler, producing.

Though while the miniseries is meant to be a tribute to the elder Wyler and Heston, there will be some updates made to the material:

The new version will be based more specifically on the 1907 Lew Wallace source novel than either the 1959 version or earlier 1925 adaptation.

Wyler is looking to skew the lead role younger into his mid-20s. New version will also likely downplay the religious aspects of the source material.

"We want to look at the spirituality within the piece rather than directly relating it to a specific religion," said Wyler. "It's a very complex story. It’s been 50 years since my father’s version and we think we can bring something new and contemporary to it in the same way that Gladiator did for that genre."

So, who can you see playing this strapping young protagonist of the spiritual-not-religious Ben-Hur miniseries?

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Rest in Peace, Charlton Heston

BuzzSugar — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 04:30:15 PDT

You know, though it goes against reason, I somehow thought Charlton Heston would outlive us all. Sadly, the Oscar winner died on Saturday at the age of 84.

Well-known for his award-winning turn in the 1959 epic tale Ben Hur and his role as Moses in The Ten Commandments, Heston was a part of many other great Hollywood films as well, particularly films of historical - and cinematic - significance. Some of these include Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man, Soylent Green, El Cid, The Greatest Story Ever Told, and Julius Caesar.

Heston was also increasingly active politically in his later years and was elected president of the National Rifle Association in 1998. Variety reminds us that he "was famously quoted as saying the only way his gun would be taken away 'is from my cold, dead hands.'" A younger generation might be most familiar with Heston as the aging actor who became incensed by an interview Michael Moore conducted with him in which they discussed America's issues with gun control in Bowling for Columbine.

Heston may not have outlived all of us, but his legacy as an actor who could epitomize, as Variety puts it, "the righteous, virile man" will live on.

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