'Ben Hur' to ride again in French football stadium

PARIS - "Ben Hur", the sword-and-sandal epic in which Charlton Heston swept to victory after cinema's most famous chariot race, is preparing to ride again in a live version in France's main football stadium.

The spectacle, mounted by veteran impresario Robert Hossein, will be biblical in scale, with a cast of hundreds recreating a battle at sea, a gladiatorial combat in ancient Rome and a live chariot race in the 15,000 square metre arena.

"I can tell you that there are scenes in it that are absolutely breathtaking," said Jean-Christophe Giletta, of Stade de France Productions, which is putting on the show.

France's highbrow critics have often looked down on Hossein, an actor and producer who has made a specialty of giant shows on a religious or historical theme ranging from "A man named Jesus" to "De Gaulle, the man who said No" or "I was called Marie-Antoinette".

But he has been undeniably successful. "A man named Jesus" claimed 700,000 spectators and "Ben Hur" is expected to fill the Stade de France, scene of France's 1998 triumph in the soccer World Cup, on five nights from September 22.

He may not be subtle but Hossein, now almost 80, represents a long tradition, stretching back to the vaudeville and popular melodramas of 19th century Parisian "theatres de boulevard" and his work rate over a career nearing 60 years is unflagging.

"Genius is working 18 hours a day and talent is finding more!" is one of his reported sayings.

"Ben Hur", the story of Jewish Prince Judah Ben Hur's triumph over his Roman persecutors, based on a novel by American Civil War general Lew Wallace, seems a subject to fit his ambitions.

The publicity has not held back, boasting that the show will be "Bigger than the Legend".

"'Ben Hur' is universal, it's international, everyone knows what it is. But no one had dared to put it on up to now," Giletta said, adding that negotiations are underway to send the show abroad, including to the United States and Asia.

Training the horses for a 14 minute chariot race in which Ben Hur's enemy, the Roman Messala must fall from his chariot and be dragged along in the dirt, has taken nine months at a special equestrian centre outside Paris.

"It's not like in the cinema, where if you miss a shot you can do it again. Here, it's going to be a live chariot race every evening," Giletta said.

After months of preparations, he says producers are confident that nothing can go wrong. But a trace of nervousness appears to remain just the same.

"Horses, you know, you can train them all you want, they're still horses," he said.

"There'll be 60,000 spectators around them during the race, of course there's an element of the unknown."

- REUTERS