Watch: Jack Huston and Timur Bekmambetov sing Morgan Freeman’s praises in a clip from a Ben-Hur bonus feature

Ben-Hur was one of the year’s biggest flops, and director Timur Bekmambetov thinks he knows why: he recently told a Russian news agency that the film failed at the box office because audiences prefer stories of revenge to stories about forgiveness.

That could be one of the reasons the film didn’t do so well, but I can think of a few others, too: the late-August release date, the lousy reviews, the perception that it was a niche “faith-based” film, and the utter lack of movie stars, to name just four.

There was, of course, one recognizable movie star in the film — i.e. Morgan Freeman — but he’s only in the second half, in a supporting role that is little more than the mentor figure that Freeman has played in countless other movies. There was nothing all that new or different about the character that made the movie stand out.

Still, Freeman was in the cast of this film, and he’s better-known than all the other actors, so it makes sense that the studio — having already released clips on the making of the chariot-race and naval-battle sequences — has released a new clip from the Blu-Ray’s bonus features that focuses on Freeman and his role in the film.

Here is the clip, in which Bekmambetov talks about why he cast Freeman in the role, while co-star Jack Huston marvels at Freeman’s powers of memorization:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll62sSTbj-4?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

Check out earlier trailers and other videos here:

• The first domestic and international trailers, the ‘Welcome to ShareBenHur.com’ video, and the Entertainment Tonight promo (March 16, 2016)
• The ‘Epic Faith’ trailer (March 23, 2016)
• The ‘Rodrigo Santoro as Jesus’ featurette (March 25, 2016)
• The second faith-based trailer (June 8, 2016)
• The Entertainment Tonight reports (June 11, 2016)
• The ‘Chariot Race’ featurette and Entertainment Tonight report (June 13, 2016)
• The ‘Epic’ featurette (July 6, 2016)
• The ‘Ceasefire’ music video (July 13, 2016)
• The ‘Revolution’, ‘Spark’, ‘Legend’ and ‘Combo’ TV spots (July 18, 2016)
• The ‘Back to You’ music video (July 21, 2016)
• The second domestic and international trailer (July 25, 2016)
• The ‘Jesus the Carpenter’, ‘Jesus Helps Judah’, ‘Jesus Protects the Leper’, ‘Judah and Esther’ and ‘Jesus’ Crucifixion’ clips (July 26, 2016)
• The ‘Ceasefire’ worship video, the Jack Huston interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and the ‘Defy an Empire’ TV spot (August 1, 2016)
• The ‘The Only Way Out’ music video, the ‘Andra Day BTS’ featurette, and the ‘Rise’, ‘Greatest’ and ‘Revolution’ TV spots (August 2, 2016)
• The ‘You Should Have Killed Me’ clip (August 4, 2016)
• The AOL Build, WSVN News and Movieguide interviews, the Morgan Freeman interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and the living poster (August 8, 2016)
• The ‘Chariot Race’ clip (August 8, 2016)
• The ‘Morgan Freeman’ featurette (August 10, 2016)
• The ‘Ben-Hur: A Tale of Forgiveness’ making-of video (August 10, 2016)
• The Mexico City premiere and red-carpet interviews, the 100 Huntley Street, The Talk and Sway’s Universe interviews, the Spanish webcast, the Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony, and the ‘Chariot Race 360°’ video (August 11, 2016)
• The ‘Roma Downey Star Ceremony’ and ‘Cinecittà Legacy’ featurettes, the Fandango interview, and the ‘Chant’ and ‘Legend’ TV spots (August 15, 2016)
• The ‘Chant’, ‘Follow’ and ‘Bold’ TV spots (August 17, 2016)
• The ET Canada set visit, the CBN News special, the Los Angeles red-carpet interviews, the press-junket interviews and the B-roll footage (August 18, 2016)
• The ‘Slave Ship’ clip (August 18, 2016)
• The second batch of press-junket interviews (August 22, 2016)
• The third batch of press-junket interviews, and the Chicago red-carpet interviews (August 25, 2016)
• The ‘The Making of Ben-Hur’ visual-effects reel (September 5, 2016)
• The chariot-race making-of clips (November 29, 2016)
• The naval-battle making-of clip (December 1, 2016)

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