ⓘ Details

Movie TitleGladiator

Release DateMay 5, 2000

TaglineA hero will rise.

RuntimeAFI lists 150 or 154 minutes; Box Office Mojo lists 155 minutes

DirectorRidley Scott

Screenplay Written ByDavid Franzoni, John Logan & William Nicholson

Based OnOriginal screenplay; story by David Franzoni, with historical-fiction inspiration from ancient Rome

Is It a Remake?No. Gladiator is an original epic historical drama, not a remake.

BudgetApproximately $103 million

Box OfficeApprox. $187.7 million domestic / Approx. $460.6 million original worldwide release; later releases pushed the worldwide total above $465 million

↑ Return to Top

👥 Main Cast

Russell CroweMaximus Decimus Meridius

Joaquin PhoenixCommodus

Connie NielsenLucilla

Oliver ReedProximo

Richard HarrisMarcus Aurelius

Derek JacobiGracchus

Djimon HounsouJuba

David SchofieldFalco

John ShrapnelGaius

Tomas AranaQuintus

Ralf MöllerHagen

Spencer Treat ClarkLucius

David HemmingsCassius

Tommy FlanaganCicero

Sven-Ole ThorsenTigris of Gaul

↑ Return to Top

🏆 Awards

⭐ Academy Award Winner — Best Picture

⭐ Academy Award Winner — Best Actor: Russell Crowe

⭐ Academy Award Winner — Best Costume Design: Janty Yates

⭐ Academy Award Winner — Best Sound: Scott Millan, Bob Beemer & Ken Weston

⭐ Academy Award Winner — Best Visual Effects: John Nelson, Neil Corbould, Tim Burke & Rob Harvey

⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Director: Ridley Scott

⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Supporting Actor: Joaquin Phoenix

⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, and Best Film Editing

⭐ Golden Globe Winner — Best Motion Picture: Drama

⭐ Golden Globe Winner — Best Original Score: Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard

⭐ BAFTA Winner — Best Film

⭐ IMDb lists the film with 61 wins and 105 nominations.

↑ Return to Top

📖 Short Plot Summary

Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius is loyal to Emperor Marcus Aurelius and loved by his soldiers, but his life is destroyed when the emperor’s jealous son Commodus murders his father, seizes power, and orders Maximus and his family killed. Betrayed, enslaved, and forced into the gladiator arena, Maximus rises from captive fighter to champion of the Colosseum. As Rome cheers his name, he uses the arena to challenge Commodus, avenge his family, and fight for the dying dream of a republic.

↑ Return to Top

❝ Key Quotes

“Are you not entertained?” — Maximus

“What we do in life echoes in eternity.” — Maximus

“My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius...” — Maximus

“At my signal, unleash hell.” — Maximus

“Strength and honor.” — Maximus

“I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.” — Maximus

↑ Return to Top

💡 Trivia

Director

Gladiator was directed by Ridley Scott.
The screenplay is credited to David Franzoni, John Logan, and William Nicholson.
AFI lists David Franzoni, Douglas Wick, and Branko Lustig as producers.
John Mathieson served as cinematographer, Pietro Scalia edited the film, and Arthur Max handled production design.
Scott revived the large-scale sword-and-sandal epic for a new generation, mixing old Hollywood spectacle with modern action pacing and digital effects.

Cast / Casting

Russell Crowe stars as Maximus, a loyal Roman general forced into slavery and reborn as a gladiator.
Crowe won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance.
Joaquin Phoenix plays Commodus, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Connie Nielsen plays Lucilla, Commodus’ sister and Maximus’ former love.
Oliver Reed plays Proximo; Reed died during production, and the filmmakers used digital techniques and body doubles to complete his remaining scenes.
Richard Harris plays Marcus Aurelius, the aging emperor whose death sets the tragedy in motion.

Soundtrack / Score

The score was composed by Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard.
The soundtrack album, Gladiator: Music from the Motion Picture, was released in 2000.
The music won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score.
The score was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score.
“Now We Are Free” became one of the film’s signature musical pieces, blending Zimmer’s epic style with Gerrard’s haunting vocals.
The music is a major reason the film feels both brutal and mournful — half battlefield thunder, half funeral hymn.

Location

The opening Germania battle scenes were filmed at Bourne Woods near Farnham, Surrey, England.
North African gladiator-training and slave-market material was filmed in Morocco, including areas around Ouarzazate and Aït Benhaddou.
Fort Ricasoli in Malta was used for Ancient Rome and the Colosseum arena material.
The production built a partial Colosseum set in Malta and extended it with digital effects.
The Tuscan-looking dream and family-home imagery gives Maximus’ idea of home a warm contrast against the cold machinery of Rome.

Behind-The-Scenes

The film’s production budget is listed at approximately $103 million.
Box Office Mojo lists the original worldwide release at $460.6 million, with later re-releases pushing the total above $465 million.
The film opened domestically on May 5, 2000 and ran in theaters for over a year during its original domestic release window.
The production combined large practical sets, real extras, stunt work, animals, miniatures, and CGI to recreate ancient Rome.
Ridley Scott’s pitch reportedly relied heavily on Jean-Léon Gérôme’s painting Pollice Verso, which helped sell the visual idea of a gladiator epic.
The film’s success helped bring historical epics back into mainstream studio filmmaking during the early 2000s.

Nostalgia

Gladiator became one of the defining movie epics of the early 2000s.
Maximus’ reveal to Commodus remains one of the great crowd-pleasing “oh, you’re in trouble now” movie moments.
The film turned lines like “Are you not entertained?” and “What we do in life echoes in eternity” into instant pop-culture staples.
For many viewers, the movie is the modern gateway into old-school Hollywood sword-and-sandal spectacle.
It also became a major part of Russell Crowe’s legacy as a leading man and Joaquin Phoenix’s legacy as an unnervingly effective villain.

Easter Eggs

The phrase “strength and honor” works as both a soldier’s motto and a reminder of what Maximus keeps that Commodus never earns.
Commodus is loosely based on the real Roman emperor, though the film heavily fictionalizes history for dramatic purposes.
Marcus Aurelius, Lucilla, and Commodus were real historical figures, but Maximus is fictional.
The Colosseum crowd scenes echo classic Hollywood epics while using then-modern digital crowd replication.
The sequel Gladiator II later continued the story world, with Connie Nielsen and Derek Jacobi returning from the original film.

Misc.

Gladiator is rated R.
AFI classifies the film as an epic, while Box Office Mojo lists action, adventure, and drama.
Metacritic lists the film with a 67 Metascore, indicating generally favorable reviews.
Rotten Tomatoes’ critics consensus praises Ridley Scott and the cast for conveying both the intensity of gladiatorial combat and the political intrigue beneath it.
Your 3 Guys and a Flick ratings page lists the episode as Episode 211, with Don rating it 4.75, Ken rating it 5.00, Jon rating it 4.50, and an overall rating of 4.75.

↑ Return to Top