01 January 2024 , 21:00
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A true hero's tale for the ages, there are few more stirring historical epics than Gladiator, a riveting and often violent tale of one man's journey to avenge his murdered family.
Movie buffs may not be aware however that there was also plenty of tension away from set, with actors who hated each other and wince-worthy injuries that wouldn't have looked out of place in a real gladiatorial area. As many settle in to watch the 2000 Ridley Scott masterpiece, we take a look at the bloody world of Gladiator behind the scenes, from heated feuds to a horrifying close shave with a tiger.
Gruesome injuries and close catastrophe
Scenes with a live tiger proved to be a little more than nerve-wracking (Universal Pictures)During filming, the crew did their best to protect leading man Russell Crowe, who of course played General Maximus Decimus Meridius, from any injuries, even barring him from playing football. Unfortunately, the New Zealand-born Australian actor, who was in his mid-30s at the time of filming, still managed to clock up several grisly injuries, including a cracked hip and a broken foot, as well as torn achilles tendons.
Reminiscing on the physical toll the film took on him during a special 20th-anniversary interview with Variety, Russell recalled: "If you're rolling around on the ground with gigantic sequences with hundreds of moves of choreography, you're dealing with horses and tigers and other things that can go wrong, of course, there's gonna be injuries. But when you're younger, you're made of rubber and you can bounce back again. I do remember saying to my mum when I got home from that shoot, she said: 'How do you feel?' I said, 'I actually feel like a football player who's played one season too many'."
Things could have been much worse, however, as detailed by director Ridley in this same interview. The tiger used in one of the movie's most nail-biting scenes was apparently very real indeed, and Russell ended up getting a little too close to it for comfort. Ridley recalled: "[The tiger was] a big boy from tail to nose, eleven feet. You've got two guys on a chain with a ring in the floor to control it. Russell said, 'OK, release them' and when Russell would fall back, the tiger would come out of the hole and Russell would roll out of the way and he said, 'F*** me, that was close'. And I said, 'We were there as well, Russell. Hey, you were two feet, I was like four feet'."
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Backstage tension
Russell was not impressed by co-star Oliver Reed (Getty Images)One of the most compelling elements of Gladiator is the loathing Maximus has for the cruel emperor Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), whom he eventually faces head-on in a bitter dual to the death. Although no swords were drawn away from set, it's understood some actors didn't exactly see eye-to-eye.
Russell didn't get along well at all with co-star Oliver Reed, who passed away from a heart attack halfway through filming. Opening up about his dislike of the late thespian, who played gladiator trainer Antonius Proximo, Russell told GQ magazine: "I never got on with Ollie. He has visited me in dreams and asked me to talk kindly of him. So I should... but we never had a pleasant conversation. I have seen him walk down the street in Malta drunk as a lord and just hit anybody he got near to - even a man walking with his children. I just found that to be - not impressive."
He continued: "He drank himself to death. He sat on a bar stool until he fell off it and carried on drinking... lying in his own p*** and vomit he continued to drink till he passed out. What did the tabloids say he drank on the day he died? Something like 30 beers, eight or ten dark rums, and half a bottle of whiskey. In the end, he created such a weird energy around him that no one drinking with him cared."
Oliver wasn't the only person Russell took issue with. He also had a somewhat difficult relationship with Ridley, and reportedly took issue with being asked to say the film's most famous line: "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius."
Ridley was eventually able to calm Russell down and get him on his side, but he still hated the now widely quoted line. As per the book The Men Who Would Be King: An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies, and a Company Called DreamWorks by Nicole LaPorte, Russell, who reportedly once told a producer 'I will kill you with my bare hands', said: "It was s***. But I'm the greatest actor in the world and I can make even s*** sound good."
You can catch Gladiator at 10.15 pm, January 1 on ITV.