The movie Gladiator (Gladiator in Spanish) needs no introduction for anyone who is even remotely interested in action, war, and history-related movies. And even without being interested, it is difficult for someone not to have heard his name or seen some of his most famous scenes.
Despite its fame, let’s give a little context: Gladiator is a film made in 2000, directed by Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Napoleon, Black Hawk Down…) and starring Russell Crowe (Man of Steel, A Mind Marvelous, Robin Hood…), Joaquin Phoenix (Joker, Napoleon…) and Connie Nielsen (Wonder Woman, Justice League…). It has 48 awards and a sequel, Gladiator 2, on the way.
The story follows Maximum Tenth Meridius (Russell Crowe), a Hispanic general in the Roman legions of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. He is betrayed by Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) and forced to fight as a gladiator in the Roman circuses, while he seeks revenge on him.
Ridley Scott, Russell Crowe and the key moment
I’m sure it took many of you less than a second to remember Russell Crowe’s great scene as Maximus Decimus Meridius in Gladiator after reading the words “key moment.” And no wonder: it is one of the most epic scenes in the entire film and is part of general culture thanks to interpretations and internet memes.
You are right to think of it as one of the best scenes in Gladiator, but it was not the one that marked a turning point for Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe during filming. It was then that the director realized that both were going to become legends along with the film.
This detail was revealed by Crowe during an interview for the program The Howard Stern Show (julio, 2022). This is the same interview in which he commented that Peter Jackson, director of The Lord of the ringscontacted him for the role of Aragorn and he declined the offer because he knew that Jackson already had Viggo Mortensen in mind.
The scene in question belongs to the first minutes of the film and will surely be anecdotal for most fans: when Máximo walks among his troops before the battle with the barbarians, he stops for a moment, sees a small bird and smiles before to continue on his way. Scott was delighted with Crowe’s performance and knew he had a peach on his hands.
[Ridley] He gave me a little test the first day [de rodaje]. We were on the set of Gladiator. I came on set dressed as a Roman general, with metal armor from the early days… so it wasn’t comfortable.
He approached me and said: I’m going to record you contemplative. I want you to look to your right and see a little bird in the tree. Maybe it will make you smile. The little bird flies away and I want you to follow it in its flight, as it returns your gaze to the battlefield, which is in front of you.
So I did it and I’m pretty sure I did everything he asked of me, added a few things to it and returned my attention to the battlefield. He came up to me and said, you and I are going to be fucking cool, dude.
It is very likely that Ridley Scott already knew he had a great movie on his hands before seeing Russell Crowe play the Roman general moments before the battle began. However, the actor’s words do not leave room for interpretation: the director knew that he had the perfect gladiator on his side.
The rest, as they say, is history. Gladiator It has become an essential film for any lover of war and history films and a classic of cinema. It is credited with the “Gladiator effect”: books such as Meditations of Marcus Aurelius increased its sales and paved the way for other films such as Troy, Alexander the Great, 300, The Kingdom of Heaven and Robin Hood.
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