|
Gladiator
Wiki
Gladiator is a 2000 historical epic directed by Ridley Scott, starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Ralf Möller, Oliver Reed, Djimon Hounsou, Derek Jacobi, John Shrapnel and Richard Harris. Crowe portrays the loyal General Maximus Decimus Meridius, who is betrayed when the Emperor's ambitious son, Commodus, murders his father and seizes the throne. Reduced to slavery, Maximus rises through the ranks of the gladiatorial arena to avenge the murder of his family and his Emperor.
Released in the United States on May 5, 2000, it was a box office
success, receiving generally positive reviews, and was credited with
briefly reviving the historical epic. The film was nominated for and won
multiple awards; it won five Academy Awards in the 73rd Academy Awards including Best Picture. Although there have been talks of both a prequel and sequel, as of 2010, no production has begun. Maximus Decimus Meridius is one of the leading generals in the Roman
army. He leads his men to a decisive victory against Germanic
barbarians, finally ending a long war on the Roman frontier and earning
the esteem of the elderly Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Marcus is dying, and
though he has a son, Commodus, the emperor wishes to appoint temporary
leadership to Maximus, with a desire to eventually return power to the Senate.
When Commodus is told directly by his father that he will not be
appointed emperor, he murders Marcus in a fit of rage and claims the
throne. Maximus realizes the truth about Commodus' patricide, but he is
betrayed by his friend Quintus, who, albeit reluctantly, instructs the Praetorian
guards to carry out Commodus' order to execute Maximus. Soldiers are
also sent to murder Maximus' wife and son. Maximus manages to escape his
assassination, and races home only to find that he was too late to save
his wife and son, who have been crucified. After burying them, Maximus
is found unconscious by slave traders and taken to Zucchabar,
a Roman city in North Africa. There, he is bought by a slave trader
named Proximo and forced to fight for his life in arena tournaments.
During this time, he meets the Numidian gladiator Juba, and a barbarian from Germania
named Hagen. Juba proves to be a great comfort to Maximus, and he
speaks to Juba of the afterlife, encouraging him to believe that he will
be reunited with his family when he dies.
In order to survive as a gladiator, Maximus appeals to the Roman
people under the name and title "Spaniard". His power and fame grow
until he ultimately reaches the historic Roman Colosseum
and comes into contact again with Commodus. In his first event, he
skilfully leads a band of other gladiators to defeat an opposing force
of chariots and archers,
earning the crowd's praise through his heroics in the fighting. Upon
being introduced to Commodus in the arena afterward, he reveals his true
identity to the stunned emperor, who considers having Maximus executed
on the spot. However, the crowd votes for him to live and so Commodus
backs down. Maximus later survives an indirect attack on his life when
he is forced into a match against Tigris of Gaul, Rome's only undefeated
gladiator. Maximus avoids being killed by tigers released into the
arena and defeats Tigris. Yet Maximus ultimately refuses to obey
Commodus' command to strike the death blow, and he is pronounced
"Maximus the Merciful" by the crowd. This furthers Commodus'
frustration, as it seems he cannot kill or humiliate Maximus without
losing popular support. Following the fight, Maximus meets with his
former servant Cicero, who informs him that his army is still loyal to
him. Soon thereafter, Maximus forms a plot with Lucilla, Commodus'
sister, and the senator Gracchus, to rejoin with his army and topple
Commodus by force. Commodus, however, suspects his sister of betrayal
and by indirectly threatening her young son manipulates her into
revealing the plot. During Maximus' attempted escape, Commodus' guards
attack Proximo's gladiator school. Hagen and Proximo are killed in the
attack, while Juba and the survivors are imprisoned. Maximus makes it to
the city walls, but Cicero, who was waiting for him with horses, is
killed by archers and Maximus is arrested by the guards.
Now desperate to have Maximus killed, Commodus arranges a duel with
him in the arena. Commodus acknowledges Maximus as a superior fighter,
and then stabs a restrained Maximus in his side with a stiletto
before they enter the arena. In the midst of the fight, Maximus forces
Commodus' sword from his hands. When Commodus demands a sword from the
surrounding guards, Quintus orders them to sheathe their weapons.
Commodus produces the hidden stiletto, but despite his handicap, Maximus
defeats Commodus in driving the stiletto into Commodus' neck. With his
dying words Maximus carries out Marcus Aurelius's commands, calling for
Gracchus to be reinstated, the slaves to be freed, and power in Rome to
be transferred to the Senate. Maximus dies in Lucilla's arms and his
soul wanders into the afterlife with his family. Lucilla reiterates
Maximus' wishes, reminding everyone that Maximus was a soldier of Rome
and that his memory should be honored. Some time later, Juba, now free,
buries Maximus' two small figurines of his wife and son in the ground
where Maximus died, promising to see Maximus in the afterlife.
- Russell Crowe as Maximus Decimus Meridius: a morally upstanding Hispano-Roman
general in Germania, turned slave who seeks revenge against Commodus.
He had been under the favor of Marcus Aurelius, and the love and
admiration of Lucilla prior to the events of the film. His home is near Trujillo (in today's Cáceres, Spain). After the murder of his family he vows vengeance. Maximus is a fictional character partly inspired by Marcus Nonius Macrinus, Narcissus, Spartacus, Cincinnatus, and Maximus of Hispania.
- Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus: a vain, power hungry and sociopathic
young man who is jealous of and despises Maximus because his father
Marcus Aurelius favors the General over him. Commodus murders his father
and desires his own sister, Lucilla. He becomes the emperor of Rome
upon his father's death. He is killed by Maximus in the final battle.
- Connie Nielsen as Lucilla:
Maximus' former lover and the older child of Marcus Aurelius, Lucilla
has been recently widowed. She tries to resist the incestuous lust of
her brother while protecting her son, Lucius.
- Djimon Hounsou
as Juba: a Numidian tribesman who was taken from his home and family by
slave traders. He becomes Maximus's closest ally during their shared
hardships.
- Oliver Reed
as Antonius Proximo: an old and gruff gladiator trainer who buys
Maximus in North Africa. A former gladiator himself, he was freed by
Marcus Aurelius, and gives Maximus his own armor and eventually a chance
at freedom. This was Reed's final film; he died during production.
- Derek Jacobi
as Senator Gracchus: one of the senators who opposed Commodus's
leadership, who eventually agrees to aid Maximus in his overthrow of the
Emperor.
- Ralf Möller as Hagen: a Germanic Warrior and Proximo's chief gladiator who later befriends Maximus and Juba during their battles in Rome.
- Spencer Treat Clark
as Lucius Verus: the young son of Lucilla. He admires Maximus and
incurs the wrath of his uncle, Commodus, by impersonating the gladiator.
Lucius is a free-spirit and likes his uncle at first until Commodus's
true sinister nature comes to the fore. He is named after Lucius Verus, his alleged father and co-ruler with Marcus Aurelius.
- Richard Harris as Marcus Aurelius: an emperor of Rome who appoints Maximus, whom he dotes on as a son, to return Rome to a republican form of government but is murdered by his own son Commodus before his wish is fulfilled.
- Tommy Flanagan as Cicero: a Roman soldier and Maximus's loyal servant who provides him with information while Maximus is enslaved.
- Tomas Arana
as General Quintus: another Roman general and former friend to Maximus.
Made commander of the Praetorian guards by Commodus, earning his
loyalty until Commodus orders the execution of his men.
- John Shrapnel as Gaius: another senator who is in close correspondence to Gracchus.
- David Schofield as Senator Falco: a Patrician, a senator opposed to Gracchus. Helps Commodus consolidate his power.
- Sven-Ole Thorsen as Tigris of Gaul: an undefeated gladiator who is called out of retirement to duel Maximus.
- David Hemmings as Cassius: runs the gladiatorial games in the Colosseum and is the arena announcer.
- Giannina Facio, Maximus's wife.
- Giorgio Cantarini, Maximus's son.
[edit] Production
[edit] Screenplay
Gladiator was based on an original pitch by David Franzoni, who went on to write all of the early drafts.[4] Franzoni was given a three-picture deal with DreamWorks as writer and co-producer on the strength of his previous work, Steven Spielberg's Amistad, which helped establish the reputation of DreamWorks. Franzoni was not a classical scholar but had been inspired by Daniel P. Mannix’s 1958 novel Those About to Die and decided to choose Commodus as his historical focus after reading the Augustan History. In Franzoni's first draft, dated April 4, 1998, he named his protagonist Narcissus, after the praenomen
of the wrestler who strangled Emperor Commodus to death, whose name is
not contained in the biography of Commodus by Aelius Lampridius in the Augustan History. The name Narcissus is only provided by Herodian and Cassius Dio, so a variety of ancient sources were used in developing the first draft.[5]
Ridley Scott was approached by producers Walter F. Parkes and Douglas Wick. They showed him a copy of Jean-Léon Gérôme's 1872 painting entitled Pollice Verso (Thumbs Down).[6]
Scott was enticed by filming the world of Ancient Rome. However, Scott
felt Franzoni's dialogue was too "on the nose" and hired John Logan
to rewrite the script to his liking. Logan rewrote much of the first
act, and made the decision to kill off Maximus's family to increase the
character's motivation.[7]
With two weeks to go before filming, the actors complained of problems with the script. William Nicholson was brought to Shepperton Studios
to make Maximus a more sensitive character, reworking his friendship
with Juba and developed the afterlife thread in the film, saying "he did
not want to see a film about a man who wanted to kill somebody."[7]
David Franzoni was later brought back to revise the rewrites of Logan
and Nicholson, and in the process gained a producer's credit. When
Nicholson was brought in, he started going back to Franzoni's original
scripts and reading certain scenes. Franzoni helped creatively manage
the rewrites and in the role of producer he defended his original
script, and argued to stay true to the original vision.[8] Franzoni later shared the Academy Award for Best Picture with producers Douglas Wick and Branko Lustig.[4]
The screenplay faced the brunt of many rewrites and revisions due to
Russell Crowe's script suggestions. Crowe questioned every aspect of the
evolving script and strode off the set when he did not get answers.
According to a DreamWorks executive, "(Russell Crowe) tried to rewrite
the entire script on the spot. You know the big line in the trailer, 'In
this life or the next, I will have my vengeance'? At first he
absolutely refused to say it."[9]
Nicholson, the third and final screenwriter, says Crowe told him, "Your
lines are garbage but I'm the greatest actor in the world, and I can
make even garbage sound good." Nicholson goes on to say that
"...probably my lines were garbage, so he was just talking straight."[10]
[edit] Pre-production
In preparation for filming, Scott spent several months developing storyboards to develop the framework of the plot.[11]
Over six weeks, production members scouted various locations within the
extent of the Roman Empire before its collapse, including Italy,
France, North Africa, and England.[12]
All of the film's props, sets, and costumes were manufactured by crew
members due to high costs and unavailability of the items.[13]
[edit] Filming
The film was shot in three main locations between January and May
1999. The opening battle scenes in the forests of Germania were shot in
three weeks in the Bourne Woods, near Farnham, Surrey in England.[14] When Scott learned that the Forestry Commission planned to remove the forest, he convinced them to allow the battle scene to be shot there and burn it down.[15]
Scott and cinematographer John Mathieson utilized multiple cameras
filming at various frame rates, similar to techniques used for the
battle sequences of Saving Private Ryan (1998).[16] Subsequently, the scenes of slavery, desert travel, and gladiatorial training school were shot in Ouarzazate, Morocco just south of the Atlas Mountains over a further three weeks.[17]
To construct the arena where Maximus has his first fights, the crew
used basic materials and local building techniques to manufacture the
30,000-mud brick arena.[18] Finally, the scenes of Ancient Rome were shot over a period of nineteen weeks in Fort Ricasoli, Malta.[19][20]
In Malta, a replica of about one-third of Rome's Colosseum was built, to a height of 52 feet (15.8 meters), mostly from plaster and plywood (the other two-thirds and remaining height were added digitally).[21] The replica took several months to build and cost an estimated $1 million.[22] The reverse side of the complex supplied a rich assortment of Ancient Roman street furniture, colonnades, gates, statuary,
and marketplaces for other filming requirements. The complex was
serviced by tented "costume villages" that had changing rooms, storage,
armorers, and other facilities.[19] The rest of the Colosseum was created in CGI
using set-design blueprints, textures referenced from live action, and
rendered in three layers to provide lighting flexibility for compositing
in Flame and Inferno.[23]
[edit] Post-production
Several scenes included extensive use of CGI shots for views of Rome
British post-production company The Mill
was responsible for much of the CGI effects that were added after
filming. The company was responsible for such tricks as compositing real
tigers filmed on bluescreen
into the fight sequences, and adding smoke trails and extending the
flight paths of the opening scene's salvo of flaming arrows to get
around regulations on how far they could be shot during filming. They
also used 2,000 live actors to create a CG crowd of 35,000 virtual
actors that had to look believable and react to fight scenes.[24]
The Mill accomplished this feat by shooting live actors at different
angles giving various performances, and then mapping them onto cards,
with motion-capture tools used to track their movements for 3D compositing.[23] The Mill ended up creating over 90 visual effects shots, comprising approximately nine minutes of the film's running time.[25]
An unexpected post-production job was caused by the death of Oliver Reed of a heart attack during the filming in Malta, before all his scenes had been shot. The Mill created a digital body double for the remaining scenes involving his character Proximo[23]
by photographing a live action body-double in the shadows and by
mapping a 3D CGI mask of Reed's face to the remaining scenes during
production at an estimated cost of $3.2 million for two minutes of
additional footage.[26][27]
Visual effects supervisor John Nelson reflected on the decision to
include the additional footage: "What we did was small compared to our
other tasks on the film. What Oliver did was much greater. He gave an
inspiring, moving performance. All we did was help him finish it."[26] The film is dedicated to Reed's memory.[28]
[edit] Historical accuracy
The film is only loosely based on historical events. Although the
filmmakers consulted an academic expert with knowledge of the period of
the Ancient Roman empire, historical discrepancies were incorporated by
the screenwriters.[29]
At least one historical advisor resigned due to the changes made, and
another asked not to be mentioned in the credits(though it was stated in
the director's commentary that he constantly asked, "where is the proof
that certain things were exactly like they say"). Historian Allen Ward
of the University of Connecticut believed that historical accuracy would
not have made Gladiator less interesting or exciting and stated:
"creative artists need to be granted some poetic license, but that
should not be a permit for the wholesale disregard of facts in
historical fiction".[30]
Marcus Aurelius actually died of plague at Vindobona and was not
murdered by his son Commodus. The character of Maximus is fictional,
although in some respects he resembles the historical figures of Narcissus (the character's name in the first draft of the screenplay and the real killer of Commodus),[31] Spartacus (who led a significant slave revolt), Cincinnatus (a farmer who became dictator, saved Rome from invasion, then resigned his 6-month appointment after fifteen days),[32][33][34] and Marcus Nonius Macrinus (a trusted general, Consul of AD 154, and friend of Marcus Aurelius).[35][36]
Although Commodus engaged in show combat in the Colosseum, he was
strangled by the wrestler Narcissus in his bath, not killed in the
arena.
[edit] Influences
The film's plot was influenced by two 1960s Hollywood films of the 'sword and sandal' genre, The Fall of the Roman Empire and Spartacus.[37] The Fall of the Roman Empire tells the story of Livius, who, like Maximus in Gladiator,
is Marcus Aurelius's intended successor. Livius is in love with Lucilla
and seeks to marry her while Maximus, who is happily married, was
formerly in love with her. Both films portray the death of Marcus
Aurelius as an assassination. In Fall of the Roman Empire a group
of conspirators independent of Commodus, hoping to profit from
Commodus's accession, arrange for Marcus Aurelius to be poisoned; in Gladiator Commodus himself murders his father by smothering him. In the course of Fall of the Roman Empire
Commodus unsuccessfully seeks to win Livius over to his vision of
empire in contrast to that of his father, but continues to employ him
notwithstanding; in Gladiator when Commodus fails to secure
Maximus's allegiance, he executes Maximus's wife and son and tries
unsuccessfully to execute him. Livius in Fall of the Roman Empire and Maximus in Gladiator
kill Commodus in single combat: Livius to save Lucilla and Maximus to
avenge Marcus Aurelius, and both do it for the greater good of Rome.
Scott attributed Spartacus and Ben-Hur
as influences on the film, "These movies were part of my cinema-going
youth. But at the dawn of the new millennium, I though this might be the
ideal time to revisit what may have been the most important period of
the last two thousand years—if not all recorded history—the apex and
beginning of the decline of the greatest military and political power
the world has ever known."[38]
Spartacus provides the film's gladiatorial motif, as well as the character of Senator Gracchus, a fictitious senator (bearing the name of a pair of revolutionary Tribunes from the 2nd century BC) who in both films is an elder statesman of ancient Rome attempting to preserve the ancient rights of the Roman senate in the face of an ambitious autocrat — Marcus Licinius Crassus in Spartacus and Commodus in Gladiator. Both actors who played Gracchus (in Spartacus and Gladiator), played Claudius in previous films — Charles Laughton of Spartacus played Claudius in the 1937 film I, Claudius and Sir Derek Jacobi of Gladiator, played Claudius in the 1975 BBC adaptation. Both films also share a specific set piece, where a gladiator (Maximus here, Woody Strode's Draba in Spartacus)
throws his weapon into a spectator box at the end of a match as well as
at least one line of dialogue: "Rome is the mob", said here by Gracchus
and by Julius Caesar (John Gavin) in Spartacus.
The film's depiction of Commodus's entry into Rome borrows imagery from Leni Riefenstahl's Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will (1934), although Ridley Scott has pointed out that the iconography of Nazi rallies was of course inspired by the Roman Empire. Gladiator reflects back on the film by duplicating similar events that occurred in Adolf Hitler's
procession. The Nazi film opens with an aerial view of Hitler arriving
in a plane, while Scott shows an aerial view of Rome, quickly followed
by a shot of the large crowd of people watching Commodus pass them in a
procession with his chariot.[39] The first thing to appear in Triumph of the Will
is a Nazi eagle, which is alluded to when a statue of an eagle sits
atop one of the arches (and then shortly followed by several more
decorative eagles throughout the rest of the scene) leading up to the
procession of Commodus. At one point in the Nazi film, a little girl
gives flowers to Hitler, while Commodus is met with several girls that
all give him bundles of flowers.[40]
The Oscar-nominated score was composed by Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard, and conducted by Gavin Greenaway. Lisa Gerrard's vocals are similar to her own work on The Insider score.[41]
The music for many of the battle scenes has been noted as similar to
Gustav Holst's "Mars: The Bringer of War", and in June 2006, the Holst
Foundation sued Hans Zimmer for allegedly copying the late Gustav Holst's work.[42][43]
Another close musical resemblance occurs in the scene of Commodus's
triumphal entry into Rome, accompanied by music clearly evocative of two
sections—the Prelude to Das Rheingold and Siegfried's Funeral March from Götterdämmerung—from Wagner's Ring of the Nibelungs. The "German" war chant in the opening scene was borrowed from the 1964 film Zulu, one of Ridley Scott's favorite movies. On February 27, 2001, nearly a year after the first soundtrack's release, Decca produced Gladiator: More Music From the Motion Picture. Then, on September 5, 2005, Decca produced Gladiator: Special Anniversary Edition, a two-CD pack containing both the above mentioned releases. Some of the music from the film was featured in the NFL playoffs in January 2003 before commercial breaks and before and after half-time.[44] In 2003, Luciano Pavarotti
released a recording of himself singing a song from the film and said
he regretted turning down an offer to perform on the soundtrack.[45] The Soundtrack is one of the best selling film scores of all time, and also amongst the most popular.
[edit] Reception
Gladiator received positive reviews, with 77% of the critics polled by Rotten Tomatoes giving it favorable reviews.[46] At the website Metacritic, which utilizes a normalized rating system, the film earned a favorable rating of 64/100 based on 37 reviews by mainstream critics.[47] The Battle of Germania was cited by CNN.com as one of their "favorite on-screen battle scenes",[48] while Entertainment Weekly named Maximus as their sixth favorite action hero, because of "Crowe's steely, soulful performance",[49] and named it as their third favorite revenge film.[50] In 2002, a Channel 4 (UK TV) poll named it as the sixth greatest film of all time.[51] Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "Were you not entertained?"[52]
It was not without its deriders, with Roger Ebert
in particular harshly criticizing the look of the film as "muddy,
fuzzy, and indistinct." He also derided the writing claiming it "employs
depression as a substitute for personality, and believes that if
characters are bitter and morose enough, we won't notice how dull they
are."[53]
The film earned $US34.82 million on its opening weekend at 2,938 U.S. theaters.[54] Within two weeks, the film's box office gross surpassed its $US103,000,000 budget.[2]
The film continued on to become one of the highest earning films of
2000 and made a worldwide box office gross of $US457,640,427, with over
$US187 million in American theaters and more than the equivalent of
$US269 million in non-US markets.[55]
[edit] Accolades
Gladiator was nominated in 36 individual ceremonies, including the 73rd Academy Awards, the BAFTA Awards, and the Golden Globe Awards. Of 119 award nominations, the film won 48 prizes.[56]
The film won five Academy Awards and was nominated for an additional seven, including Best Supporting Actor for Joaquin Phoenix and Best Director for Ridley Scott. There was controversy[citation needed] over the film's nomination for Best Original Music Score. The award was officially nominated only to Hans Zimmer, and not to Lisa Gerrard due to Academy rules. However, the pair did win the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score as co-composers.
- BAFTA Awards
- Best Cinematography
- Best Editing
- Best Film
- Best Production Design
[edit] Impact
The film's mainstream success is responsible for an increased
interest in Roman and classical history in the United States. According
to The New York Times, this has been dubbed the "Gladiator Effect".
It's called the 'Gladiator' effect by writers and
publishers. The snob in us likes to believe that it is always books that
spin off movies. Yet in this case, it's the movies — most recently Gladiator
two years ago —; that have created the interest in the ancients. And
not for more Roman screen colossals, but for writing that is serious or
fun or both."[57]
Sales of the Cicero biography 'Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician and Gregory Hays' translation of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations received large spikes in sales after the release of the film.[57] The film also began a revival of the historical epic genre with films such as Troy, Alexander, King Arthur, Kingdom of Heaven, and 300.[58]
[edit] Home media release
The film was first released on DVD
on November 20, 2000, and has since been released in several different
extended and special edition versions. Special features for the Blu-ray Disc and DVDs include deleted scenes, trailers, documentaries, commentaries, storyboards, image galleries, easter eggs, and cast auditions.
The film was released on Blu-ray in September 2009, in a 2-disc edition
containing both the theatrical and extended cuts of the film, as part
of Paramount's "Sapphire Series" (Paramount bought the DreamWorks
library in 2006).[59]
Initial reviews of the Blu-ray Disc release criticized poor image
quality, leading to many calling for it to be remastered, as Sony did
with The Fifth Element in 2007.[60]
The DVD editions that have been released since the original two-disc
version, include a film only single-disc edition as well as a three-disc
"extended edition" DVD which was released in August 2005. The extended
edition DVD features approximately fifteen minutes of additional scenes,
most of which appear in the previous release as deleted scenes. The
original cut, which Scott still calls his director's cut, is also
selectable via seamless branching
(which is not included on the UK edition). The DVD is also notable for
having a new commentary track featuring director Scott and star Crowe.
The film spans the first disc, while the second disc contains a
comprehensive three-hour documentary into the making of the film by DVD
producer Charles de Lauzirika,
and the third disc contains supplements. Discs one and two of the
three-disc extended edition were also repackaged and sold as a two-disc
"special edition" in the EU in 2005.
[edit] Prequel
In June 2001, Douglas Wick said a Gladiator prequel was in development.[61] The following year, Wick, Walter Parkes, David Franzoni, and John Logan switched direction to a sequel set fifteen years later;[62] the Praetorian Guards rule Rome and an older Lucius is trying to learn who his real father was. However, Russell Crowe was interested in resurrecting Maximus, and further researched Roman beliefs about the afterlife to accomplish this.[63] Ridley Scott expressed interest, although he admitted the project would have to be retitled as it had little to do with gladiators.[64]
An easter egg contained on disc 2 of the extended edition / special
edition DVD releases includes a discussion of possible scenarios for a
follow-up. This includes a suggestion by Walter F. Parkes
that, in order to enable Russell Crowe to return to play Maximus, who
dies at the end of the original movie, a sequel could involve a
"multi-generational drama about Maximus and the Aureleans and this
chapter of Rome", similar in concept to The Godfather Part II.
In 2006, Scott stated he and Crowe approached Nick Cave
to rewrite the film, but they had conflicted with DreamWorks's idea of a
Lucius spin-off, who Scott revealed would turn out to be Maximus' son
with Lucilla. He noted this tale of corruption in Rome was too complex,
whereas Gladiator worked due to its simple drive.[65]
In 2009, details of Cave's ultimately rejected script surfaced on the
internet, suggesting that Maximus would be reincarnated by the Roman
gods and returned to Rome to defend Christians against persecution; he
would then be transported to other important periods in history,
including World War II, finally playing a role in the modern-day
Pentagon.[66][67] |
Art Wallpapers 3d, art Painting Wallpapers
