Quintus Arrius (Ben-Hur) Ray Winstone. In the 2016 film Arrius was played by James Cosmo. Arrius has a much smaller role in this adaptation. He shows little regard for Judah in the galley, and is killed in the naval battle. Quintus Arrius (Ben-Hur) Quintus Arrius is a fictional character from Lew Wallace's 1880 novel "". He is a Roman warship commander whom Judah Ben-Hur saves from drowning. After they are rescued, Arrius is informed that his fleet won the battle, and is lauded for his victory. Arrius subsequently adopts Judah as his son, making him a freedman, a Roman citizen, and Arrius’s heir.
Production of Ben-Hur (1959 film) Production of Ben-Hur (1959 film) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) originally announced a remake of the 1925 silent film "Ben-Hur" in December 1952, ostensibly as a way to spend its Italian assets. Stewart Granger and Robert Taylor were reported to be in the running for the lead. Nine months later, MGM announced it would make the film in CinemaScope, with shooting beginning in 1954. In November 1953, MGM announced it had assigned producer Sam Zimbalist to the picture and hired screenwriter Karl Tunberg to write it. Zimbalist was chosen because he had produced MGM's Best Picture-nominated Christians-and-lions epic "Quo Vadis" in 1951. The