The trailer for the upcoming Ben-Hur remake has arrived, and from the looks of it, this will be a very intense and very modern retelling of the classic epic story—complete with lots of CGI and a dramatic staging of that famous chariot race.
The basic Ben-Hur narrative is all here: A falsely accused, wrongly enslaved nobleman—Jack Huston as the titular Judah Ben-Hur—returns home to confront his betrayers and win justice for his family. Black Mirror’s Toby Kebbell is Messala, Ben-Hur’s childhood friend and eventual antagonist, while allies include Homeland’s Nazanin Boniadi as Esther and a gloriously be-wigged Morgan Freeman, whose Ilderim utters what could double as the film’s tagline: “In the arena, there is no law. Racing is a bloodsport. If you lose, you die.” Ben-Hur sweeps its way into theaters on Aug. 12.
