Film set · Ben-Hur 2016 · Castel Romano

Ben Hur.

Sixteen thousand square metres of Circus of Maxentius rebuilt from scratch — the set of Timur Bekmambetov's blockbuster, today an attraction at Roma World and the set of Emmerich's "Those About to Die".

Story

Act one

A set
born for Bekmambetov.

When MGM and Paramount set off in 2014 with the remake of Ben-Hur, entrusted to Russian director Timur Bekmambetov and released in cinemas in 2016, the biggest demand is a single one: rebuild from zero the Circus of Maxentius, the hippodrome where the chariot race takes place — those fourteen minutes that have always been the heart of the story.

The set is built at Castel Romano, on the grounds of the old Dinocittà Studios of Dino De Laurentiis, which would later become Cinecittà World. We work on a sand arena of 16,000 square metres — the largest ever built in Italy for a film — with perimeter stands, faux-stone walls in squared ashlar blocks, carceres arches from which the horses launch, accessible thresholds and walkable gradines.

Above the stands and on the inner wings watch the symbolic elements of the imperial iconography: large imperial eagles sculpted in the round, wings open, gaze fierce — the symbol-animals of the legions and of the standards. Every feather of the wings is modelled separately, in clay on a steel load-bearing armature, before the rubber mould and the fiberglass casting. The photos in our archive show the pieces in the workshop, still clay-grey, before the final patina.

For the architectural wings, we sculpt marble columns with capitals openwork in bud-form, garlands of leaves carved separately and applied onto the surface, lion heads on the sides. Each column is a small trompe-l'œil of statuary marble — light in fiberglass, heavy to the eye of the camera.

The Circus of Maxentius arena rebuilt at Castel Romano for the 2016 Ben-Hur film: view from the stands toward the sandy hippodrome track, perimeter walls in faux stone with the carceres arches, gradines, sand-coloured floor of the arena at the centre, cloudy sky — The arena seen from the stands — Castel Romano, 2016

Imperial eagle for Ben Hur sculpted in grey clay in our workshops: anthropomorphic raptor with large wings open on the sides, beak open, fierce gaze to the right, wing feathers modelled one by one; in the background the workshop wall in raw concrete blocks — The imperial eagle, clay stage in our workshops

Faux-marble column for the Ben Hur set: garland of carved leaves and two lion heads on the sides, capital openwork in bud-form; the piece is set in a niche of the workshop with faux-stone masonry to the sides — The column with garland and lion heads

Act two

Bekmambetov's
real chariots.

The rarest thing about this film set is that it wasn't dismantled at the end of shooting, as happens to almost every blockbuster. The Circus of Maxentius stayed standing and, two years after the film's release, became the heart of the new park Roma World — the experience park at Castel Romano dedicated to ancient Rome, sub-group of Cinecittà World (just as Magicland Splash is a sub-group of MagicLand).

The visitors who today step onto the Ben Hur tour at Roma World dress as Romans, centurions, gladiators, and physically climb onto the same chariots used by the stuntmen and actors during the 2016 shoot. Not replicas: the original vehicles from Bekmambetov's set are the ones that go around the arena.

And the set keeps working for cinema. In 2024 the same Circus of Maxentius hosts the shoot of "Those About to Die", the international series about gladiators directed by Roland Emmerich and starring Anthony Hopkins as the emperor Vespasian. Our reconstruction of the Circus returns on screen, eight years after Ben-Hur, in a new blockbuster.

It's the destiny of well-built sets: they don't die with the film. They become heritage.

Another view of the imperial eagle in clay, detail of the bust, head and claws sculpted in the round — The eagle, frontal view

Panoramic view of the Roma World area at Cinecittà World today: the Circus of Maxentius arena scenography in operation as an attraction, walls of the set, sand on the track — The arena today, overview of Roma World

Architectural elements of the Ben Hur set in production: capitals, bases, faux-stone masonry blocks of various sizes — Other architectural elements of the Circus

Behind the scenes

Sixteen thousand square metres,
real chariots.

The Ben-Hur set has a rare feature for blockbusters: it wasn't taken down. Our Circus of Maxentius arena survives the film and becomes an attraction of Roma World. Three set-craft techniques held together: faux-stone ashlar walls, polychrome clay sculpture, faux statuary marble.

The stone of squared ashlars

The perimeter walls of the circus are in faux stone with squared ashlar blocks: each block is sculpted as if it had been quarried at the Roman quarry and then dry-laid. The patina is in natural earths — yellow ochre, red ochre, vegetable blacks — laid in successive glazes to simulate the centuries of sun on ancient stone.

The clay eagles

The imperial eagles are born as a solid clay sculpture: the puppet-makers of our workshops model the wing feathers one by one, then pass them into a silicone mould, fiberglass casting on a steel armature, and hand polychrome finish. It's the grammar of the Roman school of Cinecittà applied to the imperial iconography.

The statuary marble of the columns

The marble columns with bud-form capitals, leaf garlands and lion heads on the sides are in fiberglass with oil marbling: the white-grey statuary marble is painted vein by vein with the brush, over an ivory-white base. Each column is a trompe-l'œil of Apuan marble — light in fiberglass, heavy to the eye of the camera.

16,000 m²

the Circus of Maxentius arena · the largest ever built in Italy for a film

8 years

on screen: 2016 Ben-Hur, 2018+ Roma World, 2024 Those About to Die

Real chariots

the film's chariots are still today the same ones used by visitors at the park

Tech sheet

All production data

Type: Monumental film set · Circus of Maxentius rebuilt 1:1 with real chariot races
Film: Ben-Hur · MGM · Paramount Pictures · released 2016
Director: Timur Bekmambetov · executive production Mark Burnett · Roma Downey
Location: Castel Romano · grounds of the old Dinocittà Studios of Dino De Laurentiis · today part of Cinecittà World / Roma World
Arena dimensions: 16,000 m² of sandy track with stands and carceres arches · the largest arena ever built in Italy for a film
Works delivered: Arena of the Circus of Maxentius — perimeter walls in faux stone with squared ashlar blocks, gradines for the stands, carceres arches, sandy track

Imperial eagles in the round — sculpted in clay on a steel load-bearing armature, rubber mould, fiberglass casting, final patina

Marble columns with openwork bud-form capitals, leaf garlands and lion heads

Decorative architectural elements of the track and stands
The chariots: The film's chariots are the same ones today used by stuntmen and visitors on the Ben Hur tour at Roma World — not replicas, but the original vehicles from Bekmambetov's set
Post-film life: The set is not dismantled at the end of shooting. It becomes a permanent attraction of the Roma World park (sub-group of Cinecittà World) · in 2024 it hosts the shoot of "Those About to Die", the series by Roland Emmerich with Anthony Hopkins
Techniques: Clay sculpting · silicone rubber mould · fiberglass casting on steel armature · hand polychrome finish (faux-stone ashlar, faux grey-white marble, antique patinas)
Cluster: Part of Cinecittà World · the arena is the heart of Roma World, its sub-group
Second life: The set becomes a permanent attraction of Roma World after shooting, and in 2024 returns to the screen as the location of Those About to Die by Roland Emmerich with Anthony Hopkins

Second life

From Bekmambetov's set
to Emmerich's colosseum.

The Circus of Maxentius arena has three lives. The first is the film Ben-Hur by Bekmambetov in 2016 — six months of shooting, the scenes the blockbuster needs for the chariot race. The second is the Roma World park, from 2018 onward: visitors cross the arena, dress in Roman costumes, climb onto the same chariots as the stuntmen of the film.

The third life arrives in 2024 when Roland Emmerich chooses our arena as the colosseum for his series Those About to Die — a tale of Roman gladiators with Anthony Hopkins as the emperor Vespasian. Our Circus of Maxentius becomes a colosseum, and a set built in 2016 works for cinema eight years later.

This is our school of scenography: building in fiberglass on a steel armature means making the piece last for decades. The same techniques will return in our projects for the sets of Ancient Rome and in other projects that seek scenic permanence.

Ben Hur.

The stone of squared ashlars

The clay eagles

The statuary marble of the columns

From Bekmambetov's setto Emmerich's colosseum.

From Bekmambetov's set
to Emmerich's colosseum.