Gladiator (Dir: Ridley Scott, 2000)

Apparently the real Colosseum in Rome was (in Ridley Scott’s mind) too small for the film Gladiator and shooting took place in the ruins of Fort Ricasoli in Malta and on a built up set constructed on top of the ruins (Troy was also filmed here.). Rome was also deemed not to look enough like Rome, so the entire Roman section of the film was shot in Malta.

The scene where Maximus is sold into slavery was shot in Ait Benhaddou, Morocco and the opening battle scenes were shot in Bourne Woods in Surrey. There was a bit of a kick off at the time from environmentalists who argued that Dreamworks shouldn’t have been allowed to fell part of the forest for shooting, but the latest info says that the portion of forest felled was supposed to go then Gladiator or no Gladiator, so on one count at least Gladiator wasn’t being arrogant.

Some trivia for you - apparently only the bottom two tiers of the Colosseum were filled with extras and the rest are CGI.

Written by  Film Fan.

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