the Mount scene where 7,000 extras were used. The Adaja in El Fresno was used to represent the Jordan River, as well as the Rambla de Lanujar in Almería for the wilderness where Jesus was tempted. The Añover de Tajo within the province of Toledo was substituted for the Mount of Olives. The municipalities of Manzanares el Real and Navacerrada were shot for the scenes set in Nazareth and Golgotha, the site where Jesus was crucified, respectively. The film's shoot faced numerous complications. As with John Paul Jones (1959), Bronston secured the financing backing from business executive Pierre S. du Pont III, but months into the shoot, the production had run out of money. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer became interested in investing as they saw the film as a potential rival to Ben-Hur (1959), which was still in wide release. MGM studio president Joseph Vogel visited the set in Madrid and viewed dailies of the unfinished film. Coming away impressed, he alerted production head Sol C. Siegel of the production in which he also visited the set. Siegel recommended various changes feeling the film was too long, needed more action, and had a weak ending. An original character named "David", portrayed by Richard Johnson, was written into the film to function as a bridge between the film's plot threads. Due to the heavy deviations being made to the film's shooting script, Nicholas Ray and Philip Yordan were no longer on speaking terms communicating only through walkie-talkies. Midway during filming, in July 1960, cinematographer Franz Planer had fallen ill. Manuel Berengeur, who had worked with him since the start of production, replaced him, but MGM sent out contract cinematographer Milton R. Krasner to take over. In September, an automobile accident resulted in the death of Arthur Resse, who had been serving as a horse trainer, while also injuring actor Harry Guardino (who was portraying Barabbas) as the two were en route from a location outside Aranjuez, Spain. Around the same time, Ray, who was overwhelmed with the production woes, was temporarily replaced by Charles Walters. In October 1960, filming wrapped after 122 days. During the film's post-production, the editing was done at the MGM studios in Culver City, California. At the studio's requests, certain scenes were re-shot and added, and among of the edits made was the deletion of Richard Johnson's scenes. Miklós Rózsa was hired to compose the score, which was recorded using