Western outlaws, arms dealers, and a cartoon hero … but we begin our big week at the box office with a remake in tonight’s Showtime.
Decades after the original version, “Ben-Hur” is being remade for a new generation. Judah Ben-Hur wants revenge on his adopted brother who falsely accused him of treason — and what’s the best way to settle a beef? With a chariot race of course! And just like the original movie, they filmed these scenes with actual chariots and horses.
Jack Huston: “They didn’t use special effects, so we took a little tip from that and said, ‘Let’s not use any special effects.’ So we built up the stadium, but everything within the circus, all that chariot stuff, there was not one green screen.”
“Hell or High Water” is a modern western. The story of two brothers who rob banks to save the family ranch. It has an all star cast of Chris Pine, Jeff Bridges, and Danny Trejo playing, spoiler alert, a tough guy. But he’s fine with the role he’s perfected in Hollywood.
Danny Trejo: “‘You’re always playing the mean chicano dude with tattoos.’ I thought about it, ‘I said I am the mean chicano dude with tattoos, so I got a career.'”
In “Kubo and the Two Strings,” a boy goes on a quest to solve the mystery of his dead father.
Kubo is voiced by Art Parkinson, who says he really identifies with his character.
Art Parkinson: “I sort of connected to him on a spiritual level, and due to the fact he’s close to his mother and I’m close to my mother, he’s a storyteller and an artist, I’m a storyteller and an artist.”
It’s more money, more problems for Jonah Hill and Miles Teller in “War Dogs.” It’s the true story of two friends in their early 20’s from Miami who make a lot of money as international arms dealers. Problem is, they get in over their heads when they land a $300 million deal with the Pentagon and things get shady.
Miles Teller: “A lot of the times, people are kind of defined by where they grew up, and these guys, you know, idolizing Scarface and that world and wanting to get in that hustle and doing it through arms dealing was wild.”
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