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00:00If there's one thing that characterizes Ridley Scott, it's that he doesn't give a damn about being historically accurate when making his films.
00:08But look, look how cool the catapults look when they shoot fireballs, huh?
00:12Pumbaa.
00:13And another one and another one.
00:15Wow, man, he's so handsome.
00:18And yet he made one of the most memorable Rome films of all time.
00:22Of course, filming was chaos.
00:31They started making the film in a huge hurry, with only 21 pages of script finished, without knowing how the story would continue or how it would end.
00:40Ridley Scott, Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, and the entire production team basically improvised the rest of the film as they went along.
00:48And even so, judging by the end result, no one would have guessed it, right?
00:57Let's take a look at the production madness behind it and analyze how they saved the film through its two main characters and how Ridley Scott managed to tell an epic story where there had been none before.
01:07And as always, if you like this type of video where we tell the incredible stories behind our favorite movies, as well as analyze what makes them so beloved, don't forget to hit the campaign button and subscribe to the channel to stay up to date with new videos like this one if you liked it.
01:24The idea for Gladiator was born a long time ago, in 1972.
01:34David Franzoni, the screenwriter who would end up writing it, had just graduated from college and decided to take a year off to travel by motorcycle throughout Europe.
01:44On his journey, he discovered the large number of amphitheaters, coliseums, and arenas that still exist from the Roman era and became fascinated by the subject.
01:53He continued his journey east through Turkey to Iraq and there he met a girl with whom he did a book exchange.
02:01He gave her a book he was carrying about the Irish Revolution and she gave him a pulp story about Roman gladiators called Those About to Die by P. Mannix.
02:12What fascinated him most about this book was the way it connected with who and how we were in the past, with who and how we are today, and its understanding of coliseums as a sports franchise.
02:24Its story is not the one that would end up in the cinema, but it was what inspired Franzoni to decide that if he ever became a screenwriter, he wanted to make Gladiator a reality.
02:34And coincidentally, 25 years after that, Franzoni became a Hollywood screenwriter.
02:40Not only that, but he also had a very close relationship with Dream WK and Steven Spielberg.
02:45When they were filming their joint film Amistad in Rome, Franzoni went to the local library to read up on the history of the city and that's when the idea rekindled.
02:56Franzoni had a lot of trust with Spielberg and presented him with the idea he had had in his youth to see what he thought of the story of a gladiator who defies the Roman Empire and who wants nothing more than to return home to his family.
03:08Spielberg thought it was a good idea and encouraged him to write a first draft of his story.
03:16And let's just say that the first draft of Gladiator was quite brilliant, or at least that's what the gossips say.
03:22I haven't been able to find the original script that Franzoni wrote by himself so I could read it, because, well, I'll give you a spoiler, the script had to be rewritten by two more screenwriters.
03:35But in any case, apparently the script wasn't very good, but the story it proposed did have great potential.
03:42And DreamWorks bought the rights to the script and said they would improve it along the way.
03:46Films about ancient Rome hadn't had much traction for a while, but they had a hunch that it was a good time to make a film about gladiators, with the new techniques and technologies available in the industry.
03:58They were pretty clear about what they wanted the film to be like, even if the story wasn't finished yet.
04:04That's when DreamWorks contacted Ridley Scott as a candidate to direct the film.
04:08During the meeting they had, the producers briefly explained to him the idea of the story and that it was going to be a gladiator movie and showed him this painting here to help him understand the tone they wanted it to have.
04:22It's the Polis Verso by Jan Long Jerome painted in 1872 and which by the way is also historically incorrect, but oh well.
04:30Look at what a beautiful painting it turned out.
04:32Scott was captivated by the image.
04:34The producers say that during that meeting Ridley couldn't take his eyes off the painting, barely listening to what was said to him during the rest of the meeting, and that when it was over he agreed without hesitation to direct the film without even reading the script.
04:47That painting was enough to spark his imagination.
04:51Of course, when he read the script he said that the dialogue seemed pretty bad to him and that the matter needed to be given a major overhaul.
04:58And it was Scott himself who hired John Logan to do a rewrite, who is the screenwriter behind films such as Sinbad, Legend of the Seven Seas, The Last Samurai, The Aviator, among others.
05:11Logan rewrote the entire first act, redid all the dialogue and was the one who made the decision to kill Maximus' family at the beginning of the film to increase the character's desire for revenge.
05:21This left another problem.
05:24If the film is about a man who wants to return to his family, how was he going to do it if they weren't alive?
05:30Well, that question wouldn't be answered until almost the end of filming.
05:33For some reason, the production company had to give the green light as soon as possible to start the project.
05:39So even though they weren't convinced with the rest of the script, they went ahead with filming.
05:43It was planned to film in three locations, England for the Battle of Germania, Morocco for the Gladiator School and Malta for the Roman Colosseum.
05:53Well, everything they shot in England was pretty much set out in the script, but when they got to Morocco they started dancing the tango of death of improvisation.
06:02Scene by scene, because there was nothing set in stone.
06:05Ridley was under incredible pressure, since he had to pull off a film with several international locations, thousands of extras, and a budget of $103 million.
06:16I mean, it was tough.
06:18Every night Ridley, Russell Crowe, and Franz and E would spend the night together with cigarettes and whiskey deciding what they were going to shoot the next day.
06:26At the same time, they had to notify the studio and the producers about what they were going to shoot.
06:31Of course, they also had their own opinions on everything, which made everything even more stressful and chaotic.
06:38When they were getting to the end, things were getting more and more tense because they didn't know how to wrap up the story.
06:44Okay, Maximus has reached Rome.
06:46What now?
06:47He organizes a revolt, he ignores the Senate or helps him, in the end he lives or dies, he hooks up with Lucila or not.
06:55In other words, there were many possibilities and none of them convinced them.
06:58That was the moment when another screenwriter, William Nicholson, joined the team.
07:03With fresh eyes, he rewrote the entire third act.
07:07And not only that, he wrote a proper one.
07:10The film, up to that point, had been coming across as a dark revenge movie.
07:14But William shed some light on the subject and, above all, returned to the essence of the story.
07:20That of a man who just wants to get back to his family.
07:22He conceived the most iconic and memorable scene, that of Maximus reuniting with his family, but not in life, but in the afterlife.
07:31He lost his family, yes, but in the end he manages to reunite with them after saving Rome from its evil emperor.
07:38Everyone thought the concept was so beautiful that they stopped talking about it, they had their ending.
07:43Improvising is an art, but improvising and not letting it show is a stroke of genius.
07:52When I discovered what I just told you about and rewatched the film, I was surprised to see that despite all the chaos surrounding the production, the film is quite consistent and coherent from beginning to end.
08:03The characters maintain clear and understandable desires, the plot is easy to understand, and the shots are loaded with intentionality and subtext, highlighting the main themes of the story.
08:14But how did they do it?
08:16Well, Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix have a lot to do with it.
08:19In fact, Russell was the one who fought the most with the writers to defend his character to the death.
08:24Despite all the confusion about what Maximo should or shouldn't do in the film, Russell had a pretty clear vision of who Maximo was and how he should play him.
08:34Sometimes he even refused to read dialogue that was added to him and made his own version of the scene.
08:40Joaquin Phoenix, however, was much more nervous.
08:43He relied heavily on Ridley and her vision, which kept him going between scenes.
08:47In addition to Ridley having blind faith in his talent, but Phoenix is insecure and self-critical by nature.
08:54Which is precisely why he brought out the best in himself to play Komotis.
09:01He creates a dark, tormented, emotionally immature character, but above all a villain that we could understand and who was not simply bad for the sake of being bad and that's it, but who had a reason for being so.
09:18The balance between Komotis and Maximus is key.
09:24The two are complete opposites of each other and make them the perfect antagonists.
09:31Komotis is cowardly, but Maximus is brave.
09:33Komotis desperately seeks external validation from both his father and the people of Rome, but Maximus does not seek it.
09:40He simply receives it from Marcus Aurelius and the people of Rome.
09:44Komotis is sly and political, and Maximus is direct as an open book and a man of the earth.
09:49Komotis enjoys violence, but Maximus uses it only when he has no other choice and refuses to fight unless it is with meaning.
09:57They embody the battle between good and evil in every scene, and both actors perfectly understood the essence of their characters.
10:05This allowed them to improvise without straying from their roles and keep their characters solid throughout the film.
10:11For example, this legendary phrase is Russell's own creation, inspired by a motto from his university.
10:19Or this scene here is also a spontaneous improvisation by Phoenix.
10:22Also this scene where Maximus is describing his home to Marcus Aurelius, Russell improvised it.
10:43Ridley told him,
10:45Imagine you're describing your home and that's it.
10:47And with that Russell began to describe his own home in Australia.
10:57This scene also where Maximus is praying, Russell improvised with the set.
11:02He saw that the art department had left two figurines on the set and when he saw them it occurred to him to pick them up and pray to them as if they were his own wife and children.
11:11Ridley loved this detail and felt they had something powerful on their hands with these figures, so they wanted to use them again in the film at some point, although they didn't know how yet.
11:23They also really liked the chemistry Crow had with the character of Cicero.
11:28Actor Tommy Flanagan had only been hired for this scene, but Ridley extended his contract and took him to Malta.
11:34And he had him there for a month without doing anything because they still didn't know what they were going to do with him, so there he was.
11:41When they arrived to start shooting the part in the Roman Colosseum, it occurred to them that Cicero could go see Maximus in the Colosseum.
11:48And not only that, but also bring the figurines back.
11:56Ridley Scott's way of navigating through the chaos was also key.
12:00Russell and Joaquin's work is constantly supported by the camera.
12:04Ridley's approach was to work scene by scene.
12:07Before starting to shoot, he asked himself, what does this specific scene tell?
12:11What is the emotion of the scene?
12:13What do we want to tell with this moment?
12:16His only condition was always to film things that were believable to him.
12:20In other words, he didn't want to film anything that didn't feel real on camera.
12:23For example, we have this parallel between Maximus walking among his soldiers and later among the gladiators.
12:28Emphasizing that he is a person who, wherever he goes and wherever he is, people respect him not because of his title, but because of his personality.
12:36Or this scene of him being comfortable with the sculpture of his father, where he begins by contemplating it, but then turning his back, symbolizing at the same time his expectation of leaving his legacy as emperor.
12:47But also that he turns his back on his father and his teachings.
12:51The pressure exerted by being the son of the last good emperor of Rome was brutal.
12:55But the most memorable, without a doubt, are his fight scenes.
12:59Ridley was quite clear when he decided to make the film that there would be several key moments of combat.
13:03So he was able to be a little more foresighted when making storyboards with Sive and Dip to organize the action of the battles in the Coliseum.
13:11But the interesting thing is that these battles are not just spectacular.
13:16When we buy a ticket to see a gladiator movie in the cinema, we assume that we are buying it to see a fighting spectacle and Ridley takes care of delivering this, but he gives it a twist that makes it different from the others.
13:27Many films have those spectacular moments where everything is pulled out all the stops to leave the viewer speechless.
13:35However, no matter how spectacular they are, they can sometimes be boring.
13:41Those moments of spectacle slow down the narrative or stop dead in their tracks.
13:45We see that moment of madness where many things move very quickly and then the film continues.
13:51But Ridley Scott places the spectacle at the center of the narrative.
13:54Let's take, for example, the first battle in the Coliseum in Rome.
13:58Maximus, before the River of Blood begins, speaks to his companions and says that if they cooperate they will have a better chance of survival.
14:06Everything that happens, the way he organizes the gladiators through cooperation and strategy, and putting himself back in the shoes of the General of the Phoenix Legions,
14:15not only describes what this character is like, but is another step towards his goal.
14:19To win the favor of Rome and get closer to comfort.
14:22He does not use violence for violence's sake, but each action has a meaning behind it.
14:27When Maximus says,
14:29That's exactly what he means.
14:37He puts on a show that awakens the spectator.
14:40He doesn't just go out there to kill like a madman, but rather shows cooperation, strategy and mercy.
14:46A show that inspires people and arouses admiration rather than simply satisfying boredom and the thirst for violence.
14:53Quote.
14:54Franzini has said in several interviews that the idea behind the script was to draw a parallel between Rome and the United States at that particular time,
15:02when the entertainment industry was growing more and more, and with it, ignorance and disregard for political issues.
15:08So it's no wonder that Ridley exploited this concept not only by placing spectacle within the narrative, but as a theme in the film itself.
15:17It reflects on the dangers of empty spectacle, when it's used as a tool to distract and manipulate people so they don't pay attention to important things.
15:29But Ridley also honors spectacle, showing it as a tool that can be used to inspire people, as something that can be used virtuously and responsibly, while still being entertaining and epic.
15:40Well, that's it for this video for me.
15:50Don't forget to give it a like because that always adds a lot.
15:53And as always, what do you think?
15:55Do you think the second installment will live up to this one?
15:58I'll read you in the comments.
15:59Ciao.
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