Nazanin Boniadi, who stars on Homeland, will play the female lead role in the long gestating Ben-Hur remake in the works at MGM and Paramount.
Boniadi has been cast as Esther in the film, a part that Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot and Kingsman: The Secret Service’s Sofia Boutella were also being eyed for, notes Deadline. Other actresses that read for the part were Moran Atias of The Next Three Days and Natalia Warner from Learning to Breathe.
Jack Huston was cast in September to play the title character, Jewish prince Judah Ben-Hur. Deadline reported back in October that Game of Thrones alum Pedro Pascal is in talks to play Pontius Pilate. Toby Kebbell and Morgan Freeman are also in talks.
Production will finally start next year in Europe, with MGM hoping for a Feb. 26, 2016 release.
The film is based on the 1880 Lew Wallace novel, which was famously adapted by MGM in 1959, winning 11 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Charlton Heston’s performance. This new version is expected to parallel Ben-Hur’s story closer to Jesus Christ than that film, especially since Mark Burnett and Roma Downey joined the project in April.
Timur Bekmambetov is directing, with a script by Keith Clarke. 12 Years A Slave writer John Ridley also worked on the script.
image courtesy of INFphoto.com