Oscar winner Morgan Freeman is set to star in the redo of the historical epic Ben-Hur , Deadline Hollywood reported on Thursday.
Freeman will be portraying Ildarin, Ben-Hur ’s chariot racing teacher, the report said.
No other cast announcements have been made so far.
The movie will be based on Lewis Wallace’s 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. Timur Bekmambetov, director of Hollywood movie Wanted, will direct the project, which is backed by studios MGM and Paramount. Oscar winning screenplay writerJohn Ridley ( 12 Years a Slave ) re-wrote the script from Keith Clark’s original draft.
The movie is set to be released in February 2016. An earlier version of Ben-Hur starring the late Charlton Heston hit the silver screen in 1959 and won 11 Oscars. The 1925 movie version starring Ramon Novarro and Francis X Bushman was also a huge success Mark Burnett, Roma Downey, Sean Daniel and Joni Levin will produce the Hollywood makeover.
