Gladiator: behind the scenes of Ridley Scott’s cult epic
Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix face off tonight on TFX.
Tonight, TFX dedicates its evening to Gladiator sign Ridley Scott and released in 2000. Ambitious historical fresco on the revenge of General Maximus, banished by the new emperor Commodus who seized power by assassinating his father, Gladiator resurrected the morose peplum genre with modernity, paving the way for many films of the genre over the following decade: Troy of Wolfgang Petersen, Alexander ofOliver Stone Or 300 of Zack Snyder.
Unforgettable in the shoes of Maximus, Russell Crowe found with Gladiator one of his most iconic roles, and Ridley Scott one of his greatest triumphs, both critically and publicly. The film grossed $457 million worldwide and attracted almost 5 million spectators in cinemas in France. Nominated twelve times for the Oscars, he won five statuettes, including those for best film and best actor for Russell Crowe, Ridley Scott getting himself beaten by Steven Soderbergh and his Traffic.
Nearly 25 years after its release, Gladiator has lost nothing of its epic and romantic breath which brought ancient Rome up to date (we even spoke at the time of“Gladiator effect”). To understand how Scott managed to bring the days of gladiators and arenas to life, go behind the scenes of the most acclaimed modern epic of all by rediscovering the making of of the film.
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Chaotic writing
Although referring to the emperors Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) and Commode (Joaquin Phoenix), the story of Gladiator is in fact completely fictitious, the second never having murdered the first. As for Maximus, he is also a character created tailor-made for the film, inspired by the slave Narcissus, who assassinated Emperor Commodus in 192, but also by the gladiator Spartacus. The film of Stanley Kubrick was also one of the main inspirations of the filmmaker for his Gladiator.The Gladiator script underwent multiple rewrites, until a few days before filming began. He exhausted three different screenwriters in total: David Franzoni, John Logan And William Nicholson. Russell Crowe showed himself to be particularly demanding, requesting numerous reworks for his character. For the record, he even asked to remove what became one of his most famous lines, “I will have my revenge in this life or the next“, which he originally hated.
A shattered shoot
The filming took place from January to May 1999 in three different locations. The first battle scenes in Germanic lands, scene of the exploits of Maximus but also of the death of Marcus Aurelius, were actually filmed in England, in the forest of Bourne Woods. A forest which was also partly saved by the film even though at the time it had to be razed by the local authorities. Ridley Scott convinced them by promising… to do the work for them, finding themselves with entire hectares of forest to burn during filming. Since then, it has hosted numerous Hollywood shoots such as those of Son of Man, War Horse, Robin Hoodbut also several films in the saga Harry Potter or the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Captain America: First Avenger, Thor: The Dark World or Avengers: Age of Ultron).
The second act of the film, showing the servitude of Maximus reduced to slavery and fomenting his revenge in the arenas of the Eastern Roman Empire, was filmed in the Atlas mountains, near Ouarzazate. In particular, the production built the arena in which Maximus fought his first fights from scratch using local materials and construction methods, later improved by computer. The decorations can still be visited today.
Finally, all the action of the film taking place in Rome was set in the stronghold of Fort Ricasoli in Malta. A place also very popular for filming because in addition to the numerous epics which have been filmed there (Troy Or Agora among others), the city also inspired the King’s Landing (or Port-Réal) of the series Game Of Thrones. Part of the Roman Colosseum was completely reconstructed in 1/3 format, mainly in plaster and plywood. It took the technical teams several months to construct this building, more than fifteen meters high, which nevertheless represents only part of the complete Colosseum. This part was subsequently extended and digitally raised to restore the grandeur of the building but also of the district which surrounds it. Filming the sequence of the Roman games also required more than 2,000 extras, who were digitally multiplied to form the crowd of more than 35,000 spectators that the Colosseum could hold.
A grieving post-production
If the filming of Gladiator turned out to be without a hitch, post-production was affected by the death of the actor Oliver Reed (pictured above), who plays Antonius Proximo, the former gladiator who became Maximus’ mentor. Reed suddenly died on May 2, 1999, after suffering a heart attack at the age of 61, while all his scenes had not yet been completed. The production had to resort in disaster to a physical double, scanned then recreated digitally, on which the face of the actor generated in three dimensions was affixed. This artifice alone cost more than three million dollars, all for only two minutes of film. For its numerous discoveries and its cutting-edge technical effects, Gladiator was awarded the Oscar for best visual effects, best costumes and best sound. The film was nominated a total of seven times for the technical Oscars alone.
The summary of the film: The Roman general Maximus is the most faithful support of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, whom he led from victory to victory with exemplary bravery and dedication. Jealous of Maximus’ prestige, and even more so of the emperor’s love for him, Marcus Aurelius’ son, Commodus, brutally assumed power, then ordered the general’s arrest and execution. Maximus escapes his assassins but cannot prevent the massacre of his family. Captured by a slave trader, he becomes a gladiator and plots his revenge.
Trailer :
Gladiator: 20 years later, Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe look back on anecdotes from the film
