— Ch. 1 · Epic Production Scale —
Ben-Hur (1959 film).
~6 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer announced a remake of the 1925 silent film Ben-Hur in December 1952. The project initially aimed to spend Italian assets but evolved into an unprecedented logistical undertaking. By November 1957, pre-production began at Cinecittà Studios near Rome. The production utilized 300 sets scattered across nine sound stages. Construction required more than 100,000 costumes and 1,000 suits of armor. Costume designer Elizabeth Haffenden oversaw a staff of 100 wardrobe fabricators who worked for a year before filming started. Special silk came from Thailand while armor was manufactured in West Germany. Woolens were made and embroidered in the United Kingdom and South America. More than 400 tons of hair were donated by women in Piedmont to create wigs and beards. A workshop employing 200 artists provided hundreds of friezes and statues needed for the film. Over 200 camels and 2,500 horses were used during shooting. Some 10,000 extras filled the streets of the massive sets. Filming commenced on the 18th of May 1958 and wrapped on the 7th of January 1959. Shooting lasted 12 to 14 hours daily for six days each week. The budget reached $15.175 million making it the costliest film ever produced up to that time.
Screenwriting Controversy
Gore Vidal arrived in Rome in early March 1958 to meet with director William Wyler. He claimed that Wyler had not read the script until Vidal urged him to do so on his flight from the U.S. to Italy. Vidal agreed to work on the script for three months to fulfill his contract with MGM. He rewrote nearly all the dialogue while keeping the structure of earlier drafts. Karl Tunberg was credited as the screenwriter but contributed only a fraction of the final text. S. N. Behrman and Maxwell Anderson also wrote drafts before Vidal joined. Christopher Fry arrived in Rome in early May 1958 and spent six days a week rewriting lines and entire scenes. Fry gave the dialogue a slightly more formal tone without sounding stilted or medieval. The final script ran to 230 pages. A highly publicized bitter dispute later broke out over screenplay credits involving Wyler, Tunberg, Vidal, Fry and the Screen Writers' Guild. Charlton Heston stated in 1996 that Vidal's version irritated him greatly. Vidal responded three months later with a 1,200-word letter claiming he had been delegated to inform Stephen Boyd about certain subtexts. The controversy resulted in the film losing the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar despite winning eleven other awards.