News

Ben-Hur, Jesus, and water bottles

Christianity Today May 12, 2009

Simon Vaughan, one of the producers of the upcoming Ben-Hur mini-series, has created a blog devoted to the production; most of the entries there so far consist of pictures from the Morocco set. (Hat tip to Matt Page.)

Today Vaughan posted this picture of a crew member lighting the actors who play Judah Ben-Hur and Jesus. I don’t recognize the actor playing Jesus, but I wonder if this version of the story will show his face, or if it will merely show the back of his head, like the films made in 1925 and 1959 did.

Note also that the actor playing Jesus is holding a water bottle. That’s kind of funny, since it looks like the scene they are working on is the one in which Jesus gives Judah a drink of water – but presumably out of a gourd or some similar vessel, and not a plastic bottle!

Although, come to think of it, this wouldn’t be the first film to show Jesus offering someone a water bottle …

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