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Gladiator
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Film Facts:
Cast:
Maximus - Russell Crowe
Commodus - Joaquin Phoenix
Lucilla - Connie Nielsen
Proximo - Oliver Reed
Marcus Aurelius - Richard Harris
Gracchus - Derek Jacobi
Juba - Djimon Hounsou
Falco - David Schofield
Gaius - John Shrapnel
Quintus - Toma Arana
Hagen - Ralf Moeller
Lucius - Spencer Treat Howard
Cassius - David Hemmings
Cicero - Tommy Flanagan
Tiger - Sven-Ole Thorsen
Directed by Ridley Scott
Screenplay - David Franzoni & John Logan & William Nicholson
Story by David Franzoni
Produced by Douglas Wick, David Franzoni, Branko Lustig
Executive Producers Walter E. Parkes, Laurie F. MacDonald
Dir. of Photography - John Mathieson
Production Designer - Arthur Max
Editor - Pietro Scalia
Costume Designer - Janty Yates
Visual Effects Supervisor - John Nelson
Music By Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard
Shooting Schedule - Feb. 1, 1999 - late May, 1999
Locations - Ait Benhaddou, Ouarzazate, Morocco; Bourne
Woods, Farnham, Surrey, England, UK; Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California,
USA; Malta and Tuscany, Italy.
Awards:
ASCAP Award Top Box Office Films, 2001
Hans Zimmer
Lisa Gerrard
Academy Awards, 2001
Best Actor in a Leading Role Russell Crowe
Best Costume Design Janty Yates
Best Effects, Visual Effects John Nelson
Neil Corbould
Tim Burke
Rob Harvey
Best Picture Douglas Wick
David Franzoni
Branko Lustig
Best Sound Scott Millan
Bob Beemer
Ken Weston
American Cinema Editors, USA, 2001
Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic Pietro Scalia
Art Directors Guild
Excellence in Production Design Award Feature Film - Period or Fantasy
Films, 2001
Arthur Max (production designer)
John King (supervising art director)
David Allday (supervising art director)
Benjamín Fernández (supervising art director)
Clifford Robson (art director)
Peter Russell (art director)
Keith Pain (art director)
Adam O'Neill (art director)
Jose Luis Del Barco (assistant art director)
Carlos Bodelón (assistant art director)
BAFTA Awards, 2001
Audience Award
Best Cinematography John Mathieson
Best Editing Pietro Scalia
Best Film Douglas Wick
David Franzoni
Branko Lustig
Best Production Design Arthur Max
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, 2001
Favorite Actor - Action Russell Crowe
Favorite Villain (Internet Only) Joaquin Phoenix
Cinema Audio Society, USA, 2001
C.A.S. Award Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Feature
Film
Scott Millan (re-recording mixer)
Bob Beemer (re-recording mixer)
Ken Weston (production mixer)
Dallas-Forth Worth Film Critics Association Awards, 2001
Award Best Actor Russell Crowe
Empire Awards, UK, 2001
Best Actor Russell Crowe
Best Actress Connie Nielsen
Best Film
Golden Globes, USA, 2001
Golden Globe Best Motion Picture - Drama
Best Original Score - Motion Picture Hans Zimmer
Lisa Gerrard
Golden Satellite Awards , 2001
Best Cinematography John Mathieson
Best Original Score Hans Zimmer
Lisa Gerrard
Best Visual Effects John Nelson
Golden Screen, Germany, 2000
Golden Screen
Golden Trailer Awards, 2001
Best Drama - For the teaser.
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards, 2000
Best Costume Design Janty Yates
Best DVD
Best Editing Pietro Scalia
Best Score Hans Zimmer
Lisa Gerrard
Best Visual Effects unknown
London Critics Circle Film Awards, 2001
Actor of the Year Russell Crowe
(Also for The Insider, 1999)
MTV Movie Awards, 2001
Movie Award Best Movie
Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA, 2001
Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing - Sound Effects & Foley:
Domestic Feature Film
Per Hallberg (supervising sound editor)
Craig S. Jaeger (supervising foley editor)
Christopher Assells (sound editor)
Dino Dimuro (sound editor)
Jon Title (sound editor)
Randy Kelley (sound editor)
Dan Hegeman (sound editor)
Richard Dwan Jr. (sound editor)
Lou Kleinman (sound editor)
Scott Martin Gershin (sound editor)
Mark P. Stoeckinger (sound editor)
National Board of Review, USA, 2000
Best Production Design/Art Direction Arthur Max (production desginer)
Peter Russell (art director)
Keith Pain (art director)
Crispian Sallis (set decorator)
Sonja Klaus (set decorator)
Jille Azis (set decorator)
Elli Griff (set decorator)
Best Supporting Actor Joaquin Phoenix
(Also for Quills and The Yards)
PGA Golden Laurel Awards, 2001
Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award Douglas Wick
Branko Lustig
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards, 2000
SDFCS Award Best Actor Russell Crowe
Best Cinematography John Mathieson
World Stunt Awards, 2001
Taurus Award Best Fight Stuart Clark
Sven-Ole Thorsen
Best Work with an Animal Randy Miller
Sven-Ole Thorsen
Stuart Clark
Russell's Weight: 190
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Plot
Summary:
Germany/Zuccabar/Rome; 180 A.D. Following his triumphant conquest
of the Germanic hordes, Roman General Maximus is asked by Emperor
Marcus Aurelius to take over his mantle of power. But before Aurelius
can officially declare Maximus his successor, the emperor's son
Commodus murders him and orders the death of the general and his
wife and son. Barely escaping his own execution, Maximus swears
revenge on Commodus but is sold into slavery and becomes a gladiator…
Not since Ridley Scott himself brought a whole new dimension to
sci-fi horror with Alien has a genre been redefined so magnificently.
With the aid of digital technology and extraordinary imagination,
Gladiator is a breathtaking head-spinning, adrenaline-pumping sword
and sandal epic that is a dream come true for bloodthirsty, teenage
film buffs. With its lavish sets, ingenious weaponry, heart arresting
stunts, rousing score, the inspired casting of Joaquin Phoenix as
Commodus and even the clutter of everyday Roman life (nobody does
incidental clutter better than Scott), this is a film that astonishes
and enthralls. And they'll be talking about that aerial shot of
Rome for years to come. --James Cameron-Wilson, Film-Review
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Trivia:
Russell Crowe began shooting for Gladiator a few months
after The Insider (1999) wrapped. He had gained upwards of 40 pounds
for his Oscar-nominated role in The Insider and yet lost it all
before Gladiator began. He claims he did nothing special other than
normal work on his farm in Australia.
Lou Ferrigno was original cast as Tigris of Gaul,
but was replaced during production by Sven-Ole Thorsen who had been
lobbying hard for the part.
Oliver Reed suffered a fatal heart attack during filming.
Some of his sequences had to be re-edited and a double, photographed
in the shadows and with a 3D CGI mask of Reed's face, was used as
a stand-in. The film is dedicated to his memory.
Connie Nielsen found the 2000-year-old signet ring
which she wears in the movie, in an antique store.
The wounds on Russell's face after the opening battle
scene are real, caused when his horse startled and backed him into
tree branches. The stitches in his cheek are clearly visible when
he is telling Commodus he intends to return home.
Maximus' description of his home (specifically how
the kitchen is arranged and smells in the morning and at night)
was ad-libbed - it's a description of Russell's own home at Nana
Glen.
Over the course of the filming, Russell broke bones
in his foot and his hip, and injured both bicep tendons.
Maximus' Spanish heritage meshes interestingly with
his choice of arms - as a General riding with the cavalry of the
Felix Legion, (in the opening battle) he wields a sword known as
a "Spatha", popular among the continental tribes especially
in Spain and southern Gaul. As a Gladiator, he uses a sword similar
to the spatha in appearance but shorter and broader. This weapon
is known as the "Gladius Hispaniensis", and was adopted
by the Roman infantry after Julius Caesar's invasion of the Iberian
Peninsula. Roman infantry wore the gladius on the right side - this,
facilitated by the short blade length, allowed the legionary to
draw his weapon on the same side as his sword arm; cross-drawing
would be hindered by the scutum (the large rectangular shield) while
in formation.
We still don't know how far it is from Ostia to Trujillo
and how long it took Max to get there.
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Favorite
Scenes:
Before the fight in Zuccabar Proximo gives his pep talk. "Ultimately,
we're all dead men, sadly, we cannot choose how, BUT we can decide
how we meet that end in order that we are remembered as men."
Maximus listens intently. Proximo's words are reminiscent of Marcus'
words following the battle in Germania. "When a man sees his
end he wants to know that there has been a purpose to his life. How
will the world speak my name..?" Maximus reaches down, picks
up a handful of dirt and lets it fall from one hand to the other and
then rubs the dirt into his hands. He has decided to fight. He will
not give up the honor of dying like a man. It is only after the fight
that he realizes "if he's good enough", as Russell's states
in "The Making of Gladiator", he can meet Commodus in the
arena and exact his revenge.
Favorite Lines:
"A hero will rise."
"At my signal, unleash hell."
"What we do in life… echoes in eternity."
"Strength and honor."
"I will win the crowd. I will give them something they've never
seen before."
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Comments
by Russell:
(in response to question regarding injuries on the set of Gladiator):
Yep, yep. Lot of blood, lot of blood, lot of grazes, you know, I
mean, I've still got, a lot of little scar here and one under here
on this elbow, a discoloration of the skin that is directly to Gladiator.
But there's a lot of internal stuff, as well, that comes up the
older I get, you know. I've had Achilles tendons go out, knees go
out, both shoulders, this shoulder's actually had an operation on
it. Um, you know, I've got a lower back thing that just won't go
away, and that's from a couple, sort of, fall impacts during fight
sequences or whatever. I've got a rib up here that pops out every
now and then which is not very comfortable. Um, I've got two, two
really bad hips. You know, I've got some kind of bone that's wonky
in my foot, too, cause every now and then, if I, if, if I do the
wrong thing it'll give me grief for a couple of weeks. You know,
I'm sure there's better ways of getting the job done, but they haven't
become apparent to me, so. (Inside the Actors Studio)
Crowe said the written "Meditations" of emperor Marcus
Aurelius… served as "a touchstone for who Max was."
… "When I discovered the book it was like one of those
'Eureka!' moments." -- --Candace Hughes, AP. May 9, 2000.
"We have a massive fight sequence at the beginning of the
film which leads to a series of massive fight sequences so we can
end on a fight sequence that is what I would consider to be massive."—The
Making of Gladiator.
"Well, Max goes on a very strange journey. From being a General
who's in control of 10,000 troops in the immediate and 20 or 30,000
in the broader scale, is now shackled being sold off as a slave
in a market in Morocco… A slightly different change in lifestyle
folks."—The Making of Gladiator.
CROWE: Uh-huh. I went to Ridley, 'cause I was [snort!] I was looking
for something, you know, instead of just saying, "goodbye".
[giggle] Something that felt gladiatorial… military…
you know, something that sort of, and felt part of the time. And
so I uh, I uh, I remembered that, that um, school motto and I converted
it, and I said it to him in Latin. And um… he sort of raised
an eyebrow, and he took his cigar out of his mouth and goes, "what's
that mean, then?" I said, uh, I said, "Strength and Honor,"
and he goes, "Say THAT." [Russell mimicked Ridley's movements
while describing this scene. The cigar, raising the eyebrow, inhaling
the cigar smoke, blowing it out, Ridley pointing at him and telling
him to, "say that."] - Inside the Actors Studio
"Ridley
has an amazing visual imagination anyway, but he was able to explain
to me the visual process as we were going along. But still, nothing
prepared me for the visual grandeur of the film when I first saw
it. It was just an amazing experience. I kept looking back at Ridley
through the screening—hooting and hollering like a 14-year
old. Because I was there on the battlefields, I was there in Rome,
I was there in Melbourne, and what I was seeing (on the screen)
was slightly different."—Russell speaking at the DVD
Release Celebration, November 30, 2000.
Russell Crowe, Academy Award for Best Actor, 2000:
"My grandfather's name was Stan Wemyss. He was a cinematographer
in the Second World War. My uncle David, David William Crowe, he
died last year at the age of 66. I'd like to thank the Academy for
something which is pretty surprising and dedicate it to two men
who still continue to inspire me. I'd also like to thank my Mum
and Dad, who I just don't thank enough I suppose. And an incredible
cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Djimon Hounsou, Ralf Moeller,
Spencer Treat Clark, the magnificent Richard Harris, the late Oliver
Reed, Tomas Arana, Tommy Flanagan, Derek Jacobi and everybody else.
DreamWorks—a great company and a vital and adrenalized contributor
to the art form. To Doug Wick, David Franzoni, Bruno Lustig and
Terry Needham and a very brave crew collected from 22 different
countries around the world. To the people that work for me, who
work with me, my personal cavalry—George Freeman, alan Hergott,
Larry Witzer, Shirley Pearce, Robin Baum, Mark Dumbrell.
But really folks, you know, I owe this to one bloke and his name
is Ridley Scott. You know, when you grow up in the suburbs of Sydney
or Auckland, or Newcastle like Ridley or Jamie Bell… or the
suburbs of anywhere, you know a dream like this seems kind of vaguely
ludicrous and completely unobtainable. But this moment is directly
connected to those childhood imaginings. And for anybody who's on
the downside of advantage and relying purely on courage… it's
possible. Thanks very much.
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Comments
about Russell:
"You know how they say an actor is the custodian of his role?
Russell, well Russell is the bodyguard of his character. And he's
on duty 24 hours a day!" … "He would kill for his
character and Ridley would kill for the movie. So you have two very
willful people who are sometimes in agreement." ("He's
worth it."—Ridley Scott) – Douglas Wick, Producer.
--Candace Hughes, AP. May 9, 2000.
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The following from: "The Making of Gladiator" featurette.
"The soul of the movie was always going to be Maximus. Maximus
as a Roman general at the heights of power who is thrown from power
and how to cast Maximus was very challenging because you had to
completely believe his ferocity of a warrior but you also had to
believe he was a man of great principle, of great character."
Douglas Wick.
"I just thought Russell was fresh, new generation…"
Ridley Scott.
"I don't mix with people in my business and their probably
delighted that I don't. I'm not comfortable with them. With this
guy… I love him because he's grounded, he doesn't carry that
Hollywood star crap with him. 'As I am kind of Russell Crowe. Did
you not see L.A. Confidential? Wasn't I brilliant in it?'"
Richard Harris.
"I would say he is definitely on fire." Connie Nielsen.
"…Russ I'm so nervous. He just took me aside and he
gave me words of support." Joaquin Phoenix.
"Anyway, that's enough about me, let's talk about me."
Russell Crowe.
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"When I met Russell, I didn't really know who he was, and
I got such a shock," says Gerrard, who still imagined Crowe
as Jeffrey Wigand, The Insider's troubled, tobacco-industry whistleblower.
"He was so different – younger, thinner, but a completely
different person. It confused me. I didn't really want to know him.
I think it's very dangerous to come in contact with the actor when
you're used to seeing his face as a character. I tried to get away
from that.
"I almost grieved for the memory of Jeffrey Wigand as I'd come
to know him." The experience, while testament to Crowe's acting
abilities, was the first of Gerrard's many difficulties when Ridley
Scott asked her to write music for Gladiator. "I didn't want
to do Gladiator at first, because I'd done something getting very
close to Russell Crowe as the Jeffrey Wigand character. But his
understanding of the spiritual, the soul journey of the character,
was overwhelming – and they'd decided to give those highly
emotion scenes to me. To make that work is the trick. You don't
realize how remarkable someone is as an actor until you try to put
music up against them. Russell Crowe is exactly what he is –
clear and sharp – so Maximus had a definite shape. When you
write music for pictures, you can reflect different angles of that
shape – you can't turn it into something it isn't –
but, with Russell, his work is incredibly powerful, even without
music, so I felt that I had to do it." –Lisa Gerrard,
exerpt from What's the Score?, Sydney Morning Herald. March 10,
2001.
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The Mirror
MY GRAND GRANDSON
26 March 2001 (excerpt)
Russell Crowe's proud gran told last night how she shouted at the
screen when she thought his
Gladiator character was about to die. Speaking of her pride at her
grandson's Oscar triumph, Joy Wemyss said she couldn't handle seeing
him hurt, even if it was only make-believe. Joy was watching the
movie at a private showing for family and friends in her home town
of Auckland, New Zealand, when hero Maximus was facing death in
a fight.
"It was a wonderful movie but I couldn't take it when I thought
he was going to be killed. I stood up and shouted, 'No, no, leave
him alone, don't hurt him'. "People were laughing and I heard
Russell say, 'Joy, sit down'."
Joy also told of the pride her war hero husband Stan would have
felt if he had been alive to see 36-year-old Russell pick up his
Best Actor Oscar on Sunday wearing his grandad's MBE. She was convinced
she could feel his presence as she sat and watched the awards ceremony
on TV. "I've never been a believer in ghosts but when I saw
the medal on Russell's chest I knew Stan was with me here. I felt
his presence so strongly in the room with me. Stan would have sat
here crying, as I was, with pride. He thought the world of Russell
and he was really soft hearted."
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"… Russell Crowe, you filled a whole arena with the force
of your face and put the human back in the hero." Excerpt from
Academy Award, Best Picture acceptance speech by Douglas Wick.
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Reviews:
An intensely masculine actor with the ability to be as thoroughly
convincing in a tailored suit (The Insider) as in a suit of armor
here, Crowe has a patent on heroic plausibility. Whether it's a
commanding general Maximus, adored by the armed multitudes, or a
friendless man fighting for his life in a "When Bad Things
Happen to Good People" plot, Crowe brings essential physical
and psychological reality to the role. Even Spartacus himself might
want to echo Billy Crystal's Oscar night wail of "I am not
Spartacus" after seeing what Crowe is up to here. --Kenneth
Turan, Los Angeles Times. May 5, 2000.
"Crowe is simply splendid, every inch the warrior with his
image of a tranquil domestic life an emblazoned but irretrievable
memory." – Toddy McCarthy, Variety.
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Gladiator - History
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