In a new featurette posted by Paramount Pictures, the movie’s cast and crew, including director Timur Bekmambetov, explained the steps they took to make the race look as realistic as possible.
Just like in the original Ben-Hur movies, the 2016 remake will feature Judah Ben-Hur (played by Jack Huston) going up against his childhood friend, Messala (played by Toby Kebbell), in a dangerous, high-stakes chariot race.
As if those stakes weren’t enormous enough, there were also no air bags or brakes, just like the real chariot races from millennia earlier.
Along with this featurette, a new Ben-Hur trailer also premiered online, providing a deeper look at the third movie adaptation of Lew Wallace’s 1880 novel, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.