Do you know the story about the filming of Ben Hur? Apparently, the director and Gore Vidal, who helped write the screenplay, were disgusted with the casting of Charles Heston--"Cornpone Chuck," as he was known--as Ben Hur. The more they worked on the script, the more convinced both men became that there was more than friendship between Judah and Messala. Given that Judea was heavily populated by Greeks at the time, it wouldn't have been implausible (only socially solipsistic) to suggest that, as boys, Judah and Messala had been intimate, and that Messala expected the relationship to continue once Judah returned home.

So Vidal spoke to Stephen Boyd and asked if he'd mind playing a man in love rather than a man just in like. Boyd was eager for any subtext to his two-dimensional role, and jumped at the chance. Heston was never informed of the conversation.

If you watch the film, you can see that every time Boyd looks at Heston, he gives off the attitude of a spurned lover. Personally, I love it; it gives it more subtext and livens it up for me. But when Heston found out in the 90s, he was livid, and wrote furious letters denouncing the whole idea to various periodicals (TIME, Newsweek) and the Los Angeles Times. Readers answered by the majority: the only person who couldn't see what Boyd was up to was, apparently, Heston!

Oh, the slashfic. Beautiful!!

--Kris