Gladiator (2000)
- To accurately portray their role in Gladiator, Russell Crowe spent weeks conducting hands-on research and rehearsing directly with director Ridley Scott.
- Despite initial studio skepticism, Gladiator went on to gross over $466,000,000 worldwide.
Gladiator is a 2000 epic historical action film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe as Maximus Decimus Meridius, a powerful Roman general who is betrayed by Commodus, the ambitious and corrupt heir to the Roman Empire played by Joaquin Phoenix. After Commodus murders his father Emperor Marcus Aurelius and orders the execution of Maximus and his family, the general is sold into slavery and rises through the ranks of the gladiatorial arena, ultimately fighting his way to the Colosseum in Rome to confront the man who destroyed his life. Gladiator is widely credited with single-handedly reviving the sword-and-sandal historical epic genre, which had been considered commercially dead since the 1960s.
Russell Crowe's commanding performance earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor, and his gravelly delivery of "I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next" became one of cinema's most quoted lines. Joaquin Phoenix was equally compelling as the insecure, petulant Commodus, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The film won five Academy Awards including Best Picture, though its historical accuracy was deliberately loose โ screenwriters drew from the broad strokes of Roman history while inventing most of the specific narrative.
Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard's score, featuring Gerrard's ethereal vocals, became iconic and established a template for epic film music that persisted for years. Gladiator earned $465 million worldwide and directly inspired a wave of historical epics including Troy, Kingdom of Heaven, and Alexander.
