BEN HUR Miniseries coming to ABC
Out of everything that could be made into a TV miniseries the last thing on my mind is that of the story of 'Ben Hur'. Here is a 1959 William Wyler film that told the story of a Jewish prince who is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge. It went on to win 11 Oscars including Best Picture. Why don't the just show the original movie on TV in all its glory?
David Wyler is executive producer on the project. Yes, he has the same last name as William, that is because William Wyler is Davids dad. Some good news about the project includes the director Steve Shill who directed HBO's 'Rome' series which I thought was fantastic. The script is being written by Alan Harp who also wrote the film 'Rob Roy' which I thought was a good movie. Casting has not yet begun on the four hour miniseries.
$22.5 million has been set as the budget for the TV miniseries. And ABC will present the project as a limited series.
If this were HBO developing the project I would be much more excited. But it seems to have some really good talent behind so it could end up being good. I wonder who they will get to play Judah Ben Hur, you wont get a better Ben Hur than that of Charlton Heston, he was awesome. How do you think it will end up?
Source: The Trades