10 Movies That Had An Insane Amount Of Attention To Detail

With no expense spared and attention to detail that would extend all the way down to each individual hair on each actor's body, 1959's Ben-Hur was almost unparalleled in scale at the time. Whilst there were ridiculous amounts of costumes, hundreds of sets and locations, and a working crew large enough to be a population statistic, it is the infamous chariot race sequence that really set the film apart.

The 18 acre chariot arena was the largest film set ever built at the time and it took a thousand men over a year to carve out out. The racetrack itself had 1,500 foot long straights, five-story-high grand stands, 30 foot statues, and over 36,000 tonnes of sand was used for the racetrack surface.

The actual filming of the race took a year to plan. 18 chariots were built and the cast and crew involved with the race had to learn how to operate them. This was so dangerous that an on-set hospital was built just in case. To take care of the 78 horses used for the film, a make-shift stable, complete with veterinarian, harness-maker, blacksmith, and stable-boys, was prepared.  And this was before filming even began.

The chariot race itself took five weeks spead out over three months to film, required over 200 miles of racing, and it only cost an astronomical $1 million in 1959 dollars.