Messala (Ben-Hur) friendship with Judah and loyalty to the Romans. In the end of film, he reconciles with Ben-Hur. The character was portrayed by Toby Kebbell. Messala (Ben-Hur) Messala is a fictional character from Lew Wallace's 1880 novel "", and its film adaptations, where he appears as the main antagonist. Messala is a Roman nobleman and the son of a Roman tax collector; he is also Judah Ben-Hur's boyhood friend and turned into his arch-rival after betraying him. When Messala is reunited with Ben-Hur for the first time in five years, their different views and opinions ultimately end their friendship. Later, Messala
Ben-Hur (1959 film) sequence. One claims that a stuntman died during filming, which Nosher Powell claims in his autobiography, and another states that a red Ferrari can be seen during the chariot race. The book "Movie Mistakes" claims this is a myth. Heston, in a DVD commentary track for the film, mentions that a third urban legend claims that he wore a wristwatch during the chariot race, but points out that he wore leather bracers up to the elbow. A massive $14.7 million marketing effort helped promote "Ben-Hur." MGM established a special "Ben-Hur Research Department" which surveyed more than 2,000 high schools in