But under theĮmpire, mass entertainment became specialized. There were religiousįestivals and foot races and even plays. In the beginning, the Circus Maximus was not only used
The largest outdoor sporting stadium in the world today seatsĪbout 114,000 people. To be seated at the same time. To give you an idea of size, The rich had seats up high, and the poor had seats down low. The Circus Maximus was so large that it had room for nearly 250,000 people Men, women, children, even slaves were allowed to watch.
In the Circus Maximus, attendance was free. There were circuses all over the RomanĮmpire, but all racers wanted to race in the Circus Maximus. Over 2,500 years ago. It was originally built out of wood, but after burning down a couple of times, the Romans rebuilt it using concrete and marble. The Circus Maximus was built during the 6th century BCE, Largest and the best was the Circus Maximus built in the city of Were called circuses, and were race tracks. To end this practice, the Romans built places to race chariots. These This was very dangerous, not only for the racers but also for the people who might be out walking. In the early days of Rome, young men would get into chariot races all over Rome. They loved racing anything, so of course they loved chariot races. Hopefully this summer we'll feel the same way about Jack Huston's take on the character.A chariot is a small two wheeled cart pulled by horses. After everything Judah Ben-Hur has been through, you desperately want to see him win. A part of what makes the scene spectacular are the emotional stakes. In Wyler's film, the actors were only seen in close-ups, but it hardly broke the reality of the sequence. There were stunt guys, but only for the really dangerous things. Actors spend months to prepare, to learn how drive chariot races. Bekmambetov told us it was an "army operation" putting the sequence together, which involved plenty of real stunts: You can't really change things on the fly. Neilson also worked as a stunt coordinator on a few of Ridley Scott's films, including Gladiator. Phil Neilson is a very good person, the second unit director, and he was my hero. It was 45 days with a crowd, horses, and great stunt drivers. We shot it in Rome, in Cinecittá studio, and also found a great medieval town, Latera. What's interesting is - it's all real. One of the champions, he'd be worth 40 billion dollars. It was very, very dangerous work. What's very contemporary is there were teams - blue or red - and they were very popular in Roman Empire. You're just staying on a bench with two wheels, flying with a 40 or 50 mph speed, with a lot of horses around you. It was very difficult to race, because nothing protects you. In reality, it was a very low, almost Formula 1-type of design. We built very unique chariots based on original references, which is very different from previous movies, because usually chariots are like these huge battle axes. We had 90 horses trained for several months, to be able to race. We built 1,000-foot-long surface, with a track, stands, and gates. To create a believable Roman chariot race, Bekmambetov and his crew used mostly practical elements: We shoot everything in the Italy.
Bekmambetov wanted to rely more on practical effects for the film, which he considers more of a drama than a "huge tentpole attraction." The director didn't set out to make a more stylized version of the past, as he did with Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter he wanted to make a film that's more grounded and tangible. If anyone is worried that the end of Ben-Hur is going to be packed with CGI, worry no more, because that may not be the case. Below, director Timur Bekmambetov tells us about the planning and work that went into shooting the sequence. It's inevitable the new adaptation of Ben-Hur will face comparisons to Wyler's film, especially in regards to how the new chariot race holds up to the 1959 film's classic set piece.
All that hard work paid off, because that sequence remains just as thrilling today as it probably was back in 1959. The massive sequence, which was shot in five weeks, involved 7,000 extras and a set that cost $1 million to build. The chariot race sequence in William Wyler's Ben-Hur took a year to plan.