Burning down a real forest, vegan leather, and losing Mel Gibson?
There's so much more to "Gladiator" than we all ever knew.
Any idea for a film, no matter how great, usually has to be conveyed in words through
the screenplay before the on-the-ground work can begin.
The genesis of "Gladiator" was a little different.
Ridley Scott explained to Variety that his directing is very, quote, "visually driven."
In fact, he was so inspired by a 19th-century painting that producer Walter Parkes showed
him that he immediately signed up to direct "Gladiator" without seeing a script.
According to Scott, a Jean-Leon Gerome painting featuring a gladiator standing tall over his
vanquished opponent was enough to convince him that "Gladiator" was a movie worth making.
Scott explained,
"When you're experienced like me, you can do a little knee-jerk flash decision, and
normally it's accurate.
So I said, 'I'll do it.'
Parkes said, 'Hang on, you don't know what the story's about.'
I said, 'I don't care, I'll do it,' and that was it."
Russell Crowe mesmerized audiences with the brooding intensity, righteous wrath, principled
demeanor, and flair for violence that best embodies Maximus.
But five years earlier, Mel Gibson was doing a similar thing in the guise of William Wallace
in "Braveheart."
Both "Gladiator" and the movie about the wronged Scot who took on the might of the English
army proved a similar fact.
There was still a massive market for movies with swords, stirring speeches, blackhearted
villains, and lone heroes facing overwhelming odds.
A year after "Gladiator," the Lord of the Rings franchise would unmistakably hammer
this point home.
According to The New York Times, Gibson was originally offered the role which made Crowe
famous.
The mixture of a sensitive soul and vengeful psychopath that Gibson brought to bear on
the role of Wallace would have probably worked equally as well for Maximus.
Both characters have all they hold dear wiped out by the callous whims of egotistical tyrants
who represent a cruel and corrupt regime.
Wallace and Maximus also both have a strict sense of right and wrong even when they are
busy decapitating and disemboweling their fellow men.
We Got This Covered reports that Gibson passed on the role of Maximus to play Benjamin Martin
in "The Patriot," a movie whose mix of sentimentality and sadism failed to strike the delicate balance
needed to give it wings.
"Gladiator," on the other hand, soared like a phoenix.
As the ancient world's biggest amphitheater and an arena where matters of life and death
were decided daily, Rome's Colosseum has left a huge imprint on history.
It has also left something of a significant bloodstain.
The Colosseum is the perfect symbol of humanity's dual urge to create and destroy.
With seating that catered to an audience of 50,000 strong, the Colosseum was bringing
rock n' roll to the masses centuries before Elvis Presley or The Beatles.
Today, recreating the imposing and majestic architecture of such a structure would be
a simple case of calling the CGI specialists in, but back in 2000, they preferred to opt
for a combination of both technology and leg work.
The Guardian reports that Scott was thrilled to be afforded the chance to bring ancient
Rome to life and wanted to keep the vibe on set as real as possible.
Heading to a vacant parade ground in Malta, Scott set about recreating the sprawl, sense,
and space of Rome on land miles removed from the Eternal City.
Anyone who's seen "Gladiator" will testify to the glory of the set, but it's the Colosseum
that steals the show.
Standing at 16 meters tall, its first tier was built by hand, and the remaining two tiers
were a smoke and mirrors product of the CGI department.
The same method was applied to its circumference and the baying crowds.
Yet the effect is flawless, seamless, and as close to Imperial Rome as we're ever likely
to get.
In this environmentally aware age, burning down a forest just to give a battle scene
an added authenticity would seem a step too far.
Yet with a budget of over $100 million and a film to shoot that needed to grip the viewer's
attention from the get-go, Ridley Scott needed to go big.
Fortunately for the director, a large area of the forest in Surrey, England, where the
opening scene in "Gladiator" is filmed, was scheduled for deforestation prior to filming.
The Sun reports that when Scott got wind of the forthcoming cull, he contracted the Forestry
Commission and offered to kill two birds with one stone.
The authorities got someone to maintain Bourne Wood free of charge and Scott got the heat
and fury of a bonafide battle in the heart of "Germania."
At its heart, "Gladiator" is a simple revenge story.
The cruel and over-privileged lord of the manor ruins a good and noble man's life out
of pure spite and toxic envy, and the hero vows to right this wrong by wading knee-deep
in a torrent of carnage and blood.
"Gladiator" is the sort of epic and emotive movie that doesn't need an intricate plot
to make it work.
However, it was heavily influenced by a book that screenwriter David Franzoni stumbled
across by chance in Baghdad when he was a young college graduate in the 1970s.
Film School Rejects reports that Daniel P. Mannix's "Those About to Die," aka "The Way
of the Gladiator," left a big mark on Franzoni, who was enthralled by tales of those who fought
and died in the Roman games.
The factual book is a no-holds-barred account of the true depravity and slaughter that took
place in Roman arenas in the name of entertainment.
Franzoni decided it could provide the raw materials of a great movie.
In the final product, historical facts were approached with a certain liberty, and the
Roman Empire was given a modern makeover to make the gladiatorial games look more relevant
to our age of huge sporting events.
But the essence of the gory and disturbing details Franzoni found in Mannix's book remained.
"Gladiator" gave the vicarious generation of a new millennium a raw and bloody taste
of how the ancients used to get their rocks off.
As well as being prodigal talents, the late Oliver Reed and Richard Harris also had a
reputation for being committed and uncompromising.
With his star on the rise at the time, Russell Crowe also had a similar no-nonsense, head-down
approach to the art of acting and life.
Putting all three prickly thespians on the set of an alpha male-type movie such as "Gladiator"
was always going to be a combustible situation.
According to a piece in The Sun, Harris, who plays Marcus Aurelius, announced on day two
of filming:
"I've read that I am in a movie starring Oliver Reed.
Can I make one thing clear?
I would never be caught dead in a movie STARRING Oliver Reed.
Are we understood?"
As for Reed, when not busy playing gladiator trainer Proximo, he was busy drinking heavily,
arm-wrestling with sailors, and getting banned from hotel bars.
As for Russell Crowe, well, it's safe to say Ridley Scott had his hands full.
Recalling his time on the set, Garth Pearce wrote in The Sun that Crowe did a lot of moaning
about the script, the weather, and the boredom.
Ridley Scott finally exploded and snarled,
"He thinks he can pull that s--t with me?
I'll go back to Hollywood and bury him."
Scott would later add,
"He had to learn there was only one person in charge — and that was the director."
On the eve before Oliver Reed died of a fatal heart attack, The Sun reports the hard-living
61-year-old had downed a phenomenal amount of alcohol.
The next morning was another non-filming day, and he returned to his favorite local pub
early on in the day.
Later, his pallor was worrisome, and his wife called an ambulance.
However, it was too late, as Reed died before he could finish filming his last scene for
"Gladiator."
Crew member Rob Harris explained that when filming recommenced,
"We all waited for words from Ridley Scott — which never came.
It was a case of into the valley of death — forward march."
Although Reed has a relatively small role in "Gladiator" as the slave dealer who owns
Maximus, it is an integral one.
In the wake of Reed's death, Scott was faced with the problem of how to seamlessly finish
the film and honor Reed's memory.
The answer came, as it so often does, in the shape of technology.
Scott explained to Variety,
"We managed to finish off what was required from Oliver, stealing digital images of his
face and attaching them to an appropriate body."
Although an easy task by today's standards, at the turn of the century, such cinematic
trickery was completely novel.
It was expensive, too, to the tune of $3.2 million spent for just two minutes of screen
time featuring the image of Reed from beyond the grave.
Russell Crowe explained to Variety that he never liked the original script for Gladiator.
Yet the opportunity to work with Ridley Scott was too good an opportunity to miss.
Screenwriter David Franzoni revealed he and Scott were determined to steer well clear
of the classic sword and sandal movies and used foreign cinema as their blueprint.
He was also open to cast members suggesting various ideas for major rewrites during pre-production
and throughout the entire shoot.
Scott, Franzoni, and Crowe often met during filming to discuss how the script could be
given an extra charge of energy and new dialogue was often written on the hoof.
Franzoni explained,
"We'd all drink whiskey and smoke cigars.
We'd exchange notes and ideas.
Then I'd go back and write at three or four in the morning and I'd hand the pages to Ridley.
During the shoot, I went off and met with Russell.
We would meet almost daily before he would go shoot and talk about the scenes.
I remember once we were sitting on the ground, drawing things in the sand.
It was a very 60s way to make a film."
Crowe added jokingly,
"I've often said to Ridley since, 'One of these days we should actually do a film where
we know what we're going to do before we start.'"
Although Maximus and Emperor Commodus are arch-enemies in the film, offscreen, Russell
Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix became the best of buddies.
Following his brother River Phoenix's death, "Gladiator" was one of the first big productions
that Joaquin appeared in.
Crowe explained to Variety that during the publicity rounds for "Gladiator," a lot of
journalists would bombard Phoenix.
They'd ask him questions about his brother because Maximus and Commodus initially share
a brotherly bond in the film, prodding Phoenix about how he felt about his co-star.
Crowe explained,
"At one point, we were doing some press conference and [Phoenix] just said something along the
lines of, 'Look, Russell treated me like a brother,' and it just hit me in a really heavy
way."
Cinema.com reports that Crowe also revealed he helped Phoenix overcome his nerves on the
set of "Gladiator" by sharing a few key libations.
Crowe explained that it was Richard Harris who suggested all three actors sit down together,
have a drink, and discuss what was bothering Phoenix.
Crowe added,
"We talked about how [Phoenix] requires an external force to get him into the moment,
and through a number of hours and a number of cans of Guinness, I got the point across
to him that it's actually an internal journey and everything he needs to do with the character
lives within him."
An actor's life isn't all about mass adulation, award ceremonies, talk shows, and meet and
greet events on the red carpet.
In Russell Crowe's case, playing an alpha male such as Maximus in "Gladiator" actually
left him black, blue, bloodied, and bruised.
As well as smashing up his hip and breaking a foot bone during his time as a sword and
shield man, Crowe also had a close call with one of the tigers, but fortunately lived to
tell the tale.
In an interview with WENN, Crowe revealed the days of doing his own stunts are long
behind him because his body is no longer capable of bouncing back in the same way anymore.
Listing the injuries he had picked up on set, Crowe said,
"I've got no cartilage in my toes anymore.
I've got grade-four tears in both Achilles' tendons.
I've got shin splints.
I've got bone marrow edemas under both knees.
I've got one disintegrating hip.
I've got a rib in my upper thoracic that pops off my spine.
This stuff comes from committing to the job and giving myself over to the job."
After killing Emperor Commodus and finally avenging the murders of his wife, child, and
surrogate father, Maximus gives in to the ravages and wounds inflicted upon his body
and dies so that justice might live.
It's an emotive and fitting ending to "Gladiator," and it's difficult to see how Maximus could
have survived without lessening the film's impact.
However, although the death of Maximus seems inevitable, in the film's original screenplay
Maximus would've lived.
This seems vastly at odds with the character whose only motivation and ambition in life
is to kill Commodus, rid Rome of corruption, and reunite with his family in the afterlife.
Maximus has no appetite for life but he has an insatiable thirst for vengeance and once
that's quenched, it's difficult to imagine him starting over on some rural smallholding
somewhere.
It was a concern held by both Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe, who told Empire,
"That 'My name is Maximus...' speech is basically a suicide note.
I remember Ridley coming up to me on set saying, 'Look, the way this is shaping up, I don't
see how you live.
The character is about one act of pure vengeance for his wife and child, and, once he's accomplished
that, what does he do?'"
Crowe revealed he had a long-running joke that in an alternate universe the world-weary
and battled-hardened warrior could have ended up running a pizza joint near the Colosseum.
Fortunately, everyone reached an agreement that fate was firmly fixed for Maximus, and
it didn't involve pepperoni.
Although they enjoyed a fierce reputation as a nation-state built on blood and conquest,
being a vegetarian or a vegan in ancient Rome was not as unusual as you might think.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, many ancient Greco-Romans were keen proponents
of the plant and mineral diet.
In Rome, only the rich could afford to tear into animal flesh regularly.
But because polyester and spandex weren't a thing back then, your average Roman would
have had to wear wool or leather.
This posed a tricky dilemma for long-term vegan Joaquin Phoenix when it came to playing
the bloodthirsty Emperor Commodus.
As a merciless dictator and vengeful tyrant, Commodus has no qualms about butchering everything
and anything if it offends his sensibilities.
Obviously wearing the skin of dead animals is not going to be a bone of contention for
such a man.
Yet according to ABC News, so fierce are Phoenix's vegan principles he refused to wear leather
when playing the Roman overlord, and the costume department had to kit him out with a synthetic
substitute.
PETA reports that Phoenix, who has made the same stance on his wardrobe when playing characters
in other films such as the Johnny Cash biopic, "Walk The Line," explained,
"My lifestyle is part of who I am and therefore is always a consideration when working.
I always discuss this with producers, and they are very accommodating."
Despite being a concise, self-contained, and satisfying story which leaves no stone unturned
or loose end to clutch on to, for over 20 years, there have been varying levels of demand
for either a sequel or prequel to "Gladiator."
Perhaps keen to have another taste of the intoxicating commercial and critical success,
both Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe have at some point given the idea some serious thought.
According to Deadline, Paramount confirmed Ridley Scott would be directing the decades-later
sequel to Gladiator.
It's set to feature Paul Mescal as Lucius from the original movie, who is now all grown
up years after Maximus's death.
You may remember that Lucius was the young nephew of Joaquin Phoenix's Emperor Commodus.
Will Lucius be the new champion of the colosseum?
We'll have to wait and see until Gladiator 2 hits theaters on November 22, 2024.