How the film "Gladiator" was filmed: footage from filming and interesting facts (20 photos)

The film "Gladiator" with Russell Crowe in the title role was released back in 2000, becoming a worldwide hit and winning as many as 5 coveted Oscar statuettes.





1. The film covers a very wide geography. The first scenes of the film were shot in Germany, scenes in the forest were filmed in Ireland, scenes in the desert were filmed in Morocco. Actually, Maximus’s first fights took place there. But the main actions of the film (the Colosseum) took place in Malta.



2. It took the studio several months of work and $1 million to recreate the Colosseum. Moreover, having visited the real Colosseum, director Ridley Scott found it too small, so it was decided to enlarge the movie Colosseum by more than 1.5 times.





And of course, it is worth considering that the Colosseum itself was not built entirely, but only its lower part. The upper part was added using special effects.



3. Ridley Scott wanted to ensure that the scenes were as natural as possible, so the Bengal tigers (5 individuals) were very real. Moreover, they were not filmed separately, but five meters from the characters, including Russell Crowe himself.



But of course, maximum safety measures were observed. The tiger was kept so that it would not attack the actors. In addition, just in case there was a firefighter, there was a trainer with tranquilizers, ready to throw them at the tabby cats.



Well, in those scenes where the presence of live tigers was not possible, stuffed animals were used.



4. Despite the fact that many famous historical figures are present in the film "Gladiator", including Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, there was no trace of General Maximus. And the title “general” itself appeared only in the 16th century, and certainly not in Ancient Rome.



But director Ridley Scott explained that he did not intend to make a historical documentary. This is a feature film that only shows the spirit of that time, nothing more.



5. By the way, about the name. Initially, Mel Gibson was invited to play the role of Maximus. Yes, and Maximus’ biography refers us to Max from the film “Mad Max,” whose role was actually played by Gibson. As you may remember, Mad Max also loses his family. That is why the creators chose this name.



But Mel Gibson himself refused this role because he considered himself too old (at that time he was 43 years old). The creators thought about involving other actors, including Hugh Jackman, but in the end they chose another Australian actor, Russell Crowe.



6. Actor Oliver Reed, who played the owner of the gladiators (lanista), did not live to see the end of filming, which became a bit of a problem, since not all of his scenes were filmed.



As a result, it was decided to use computer graphics to “revive” the actor. As a result, in some scenes we see not Oliver Reed at all. Such face-swapping effects were still new at the time.



Of course, there was an option to replace the actor or explain his absence in some other way, but director Ridley Scott refused such ideas.

7. The film "Gladiator", unlike most other films, was shot in order. That is, the first scenes were filmed at the beginning, and the last scenes were filmed at the end. Perhaps if the scenes were filmed out of order, Oliver Reed would have been able to act in all the scenes and there would have been no need for the use of computer-generated facial replacement stunt doubles.



8. For the role of Maximus, actor Russell Crowe had to sweat in the gym for a long time to bring his figure and muscles into the appropriate shape, since he even came to the casting with a small belly, which, of course, would not have pleased the audience very much.



9. It was originally planned that during one of the battles in the arena, Maximus would fight a rhinoceros. But this caused big problems, since live rhinoceroses cannot be trained, and computer animals would look too unnatural.



10. With a budget of $103 million, the film "Gladiator" grossed $460 million, making the project a box office success.

11. In order to fill the Colosseum, I had to resort to some tricks. The bottom rows were filled with actual live actors, while the rest of the seats were filled with CGI and even cardboard mannequins.



12. Russell Crowe refused the services of stunt doubles, as he preferred to perform all the stunts in the film himself. Naturally, in the most difficult moments there were stuntmen, but in most scenes we really see Russell Crowe. But of course there were some injuries. During filming, Crowe broke bones in his foot and hip, had some tendons ruptured, had his face scratched all over by branches while riding a horse, and more. What you won't do for art.



13. Russell Crowe was dissatisfied with the filming process, since the script was constantly being refined during filming, and some other problems constantly arose.

In one of his interviews, he even joked that he would rather have accepted the role of a bus conductor in another film, since filming Gladiator was really difficult.

However, it paid off handsomely. And we’re not even talking about box office receipts, but about the coveted Oscar statuette that the actor received for this film.

14. Up to 500 people took part in mass battle scenes, and everyone had to be dressed in armor and other clothing. Naturally, to do this, the costume room would not be enough, so we had to create a separate, huge costume tent.



15. In total, "Gladiator" took 5 out of 12 Oscars, namely "Best Actor", "Best Picture", "Best Costumes", "Best Sound" and "Best Visual Effects".