A ship-to-shore invasion with fleets of Roman battleships fighting with trebuchets and thousands of archers.
A naval duel to the death inside a flooded, shark-infested coliseum.
That happened on the firstGladiator.
From left: Ridley Scott,Connie NielsenandPaul Mescal.Violeta Sofia
Remember the image of Maximuss hand, gliding through the wheat growing in the fields approaching his estate?
Russell Crowe wasnt even in the country for that.
Spotting him, Scott shouted at him to stop.
Thus was born one of the most memorable scenes, andGladiator IIharks back to it several times.
Mescal replicates that too.
Couldnt have seen that coming on the bingo card, laughs Mescal.
I wouldnt have said while makingNormal People, Do you know what?
Thats something that I pride myself on, and its something that Im drawn to for sure.
Still, the rugby thing helped.
I did break my nose, my jaw, says Mescal.
And three fingers and two toes.
So, whats that, seven or eight [bones], depending on how you look at it?
How did that compare to theGladiator IIshoot?
So, we just had to make the muscles big and make myself able to take some impact.
But I didnt come out of it with any major injuries.
During the casting, Mescal knew other names were being floated for the role.
Ridleys time is very precious to him, so its like theres no fat on the bone.
Were getting straight to the point.
We talked very little about the film, initially.
And then we didnt actually speak again until Id been cast.
He felt Crowe had the natural intensity to play a general hellbent on avenging his slain family.
Mescals Lucius has a similar trigger, but hes much younger and less experienced.
What did Scott see in Mescal?
Paul had a different kind of energy, says Scott.
Paul is much less fully formed, but he is big and strapping.
Honestly, if youve got half the physicality, you could master the rest of the learning curve.
Youre five minutes late!
How did that work with Crowe?
But Russell naturally is a bit of a boiling kettle, always on the edge of boil.
And he knows where to go, because his first love is theater.
I respect the theatrical side of that.
It gives the actor an encyclopedia of emotions to draw down on and know how to get there.
I think the context for both of those characters is very different.
Theyre fighting for very different things, motivated by very different things.
Ultimately, at the end of the film theyre more similar than they are at the beginning.
And then toward the end of the film, you start seeing the fusion of father and son.
The one quality they share is an unquenchable thirst for revenge.
That gives Maximus a singular purpose that drives his savagery in the arena.
Lucius motivation is set early on.
I think hes one of the few people probably in that time [who understands].
Rome took his wife from him.
We had tried to develop one 10 years ago, and we werent happy with it.
Nick Cave did a great job of invention and Russell was fully engaged, Scott recalls.
We all were, but I was the one dragging my feet.
I was like, I dunno about this.
I was going along with the boys.
I didnt really believe in it.
It got too rich and started to go to time warps, which frankly I thought was bloody silly.
It is, I agree.
But what do you do with it?
I kept it as a little silver bullet, thinking, Ill use that again somewhere.
Scott also introduced the character of Luciuss wife, the love of his life.
I saw her as a woman living on the edges of this city, in a kibbutz.
I saw her as a housewife but then you realize, Oh god, shes got a bow.
Movies can do this brilliantly.
You realize shes also a soldier, an archer, a markswoman.
Thats when we knew we had a movie, and it would be some version of a homecoming.
Everything was discussed over several years, for example, the antagonist.
No one wanted another emperor as the antagonist.
So, then you start to talk about it: OK, whatwouldbe a great antagonist?
What would feel rightnow?
This was different, because the first movie had to be made on a budget, says Wick.
Back then, everyone said sword and sandal was dead.
Russell Crowe was untested.
It was a much bigger risk.
Wed made the audience wait for 23 years.
Paramount came on as partner.
Since Ridley has everything in his head, he can easily say, Oh, I dont need that.
All agreed there would be no scrimping on the scenes that needed to top those from the original.
Those were really the two biggest ones.
The opening battle also, that was big.
Its a place where visitors park their cars with their coffee lattes.
There was a little group of baboons that sat on a wall, staring at the tourists.
One idiot walks across to a big baboon, and he tries to pat it.
And this thing just attacked him.
I thought it was funny, but what was there was the physicality.
It knew when to defend, kill, and attack.
Baboons are carnivorous animals, and a big baboon could be 40 or 50 pounds.
Try and wrestle a 20-pound Jack Russell and youll lose.
Youll lose your arm and your head.
Can you hang from a beam by one arm for two hours?
No, but they can.
How to convey such brutality?
I cast 12 very small stuntmen, Scott said.
Some were tough teens but theyre quite tiny.
I put them all in black tights and, for fun, I painted whiskers on them.
Then we went to war, and it became this stuntman brawl of savagery.
So, then I had all the physicality recorded of the actors.
You then put on the flesh and hair.
Some guy says to me, Ive never seen a baboon like that before.
I said, Well, hes got alopecia, you know what that is?
Its when you lose all your fking hair.
I told him, I copied this baboon from that park.
It had alopecia, so everything was sinew and tendon with no fat, like muscular steel.
I said, Thats my monster.
Thats when I said, Paul, you know what?
It would be cool if you turn the tables on the baboon.
If you bite the baboon, the baboon will be psychologically in shock.
And snarl back when the baboon goes, Holy st.
It was meant to be funny, but it worked.
How did all this look to the producers watching from a short distance?
He was a great warrior.
The question with this kid Lucius was, why would he win in the arena?
But thats still only an idea.
Ridley always says to me, he runs his set like a benevolent dictatorship, says Pruss.
Clearly, he was a man of great pedigree and intellect and a doer and a stern character.
I think I see that in Ridley too.
He runs his sets like a general would.
Everybody knows their roles, everybody has the eye on the details, so there wont be any faltering.
And under Ridleys stewardship, we all know where were supposed to be and what were supposed to do.
He sets the tone, and then we have to rise to his level.
It took a day and a half.
I was reminded of watching the firstGladiatorwith my father at the Odeon Cinema in Romford near London.
In both roles he keeps his intentions veiled until he wants you to know his true self.
I think the film was honestly terrific, one of my better movies.
To get Washington on board, Scott showed him a painting by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, a 19th-century artist.
His work in Roman and Greek circumstance, they are spectacular, he says.
There was a painting which I think defines the Macrinus: a guy standing there, with huge forearms.
Denzel said, What does he do?
I said, Well, hes a billionaire.
He said, Oh, OK, send me the script.
Like Lucius, Macrinus also has a backstory that gives him grievance with the most powerful people in Rome.
Now, he has a stable of gladiators that cement his place in high society.
We did easily 50 drafts, with evolution each time, says Wick.
There was a lot of deliberation on how much to reveal with Denzels character.
Lucy Fisher said they decided that they didnt need much because of the actor playing him.
Denzel, because he is such a strong presence as an actor, his abilities transcend dialogue.
So, we decided to toss that backstory.
My last name is Washington, he says, Why do you think that is?
Benjamin Corbin Washington, he continues.
So that side of slavery is there in my family.
My grandfather was born in 1864, I believe, so just this side of slavery.
And then my father was born in 1909, as a free man.
I still own the land that my great-great-grandfather bought under our name.
And now we own it.
In Washingtons mind there was one major difference.
So, I was taught love.
That was obviously not the case with Macrinus.
What was different about working with Scott after the 17 years sinceAmerican Gangster?
I call him the governor, Washington says.
The word I hear is evolve.
But the firstGladiator, it won Best Picture, and I guess it was a film that directed itself.
I would never use the word evolve.
He was a great director back then, and he will be for all time.
Im producing and starring inHannibalnext fall, Washington says.
Ill doOthelloonstage starting in February, and it feels likeGladiator IIwas preparation forOthello, which will be preparation forHannibal.
Im in the gym now.
I looked at a photograph of myself at an Academy Awards, and I was 250 pounds.
Those days are over.
Im on my way to 180, and Ill be ready for myHannibalfitting.
Im not where I want to be, but I aint where I was.
Also making an entrance into theGladiatoruniverse is Pedro Pascal, as Marcus Acasius.
And I had to go back and see it again just to feel that again.
The experience of shooting, he recalls, lived up to his expectations.
He composes the entire world visually.
He will shoot stuff like that from start to finish, and that is just nothing Ive experienced before.
Its so utterly immersive, with all of the soldiers, the wailing women and everything.
And so that does so much of the work.
And so, I find it very, very technically complicated and strangely very actor friendly.
And as an actor, Pascal relished the script, with its interwoven intrigues and accent on conflict.
The more conflict there is, the more you have to anchor yourself to.
And then the more tragic it can be, the better.
Nielsen has been intrigued by Lucillas tenuous relationship to power since the first film.
I really felt like I was bringing to Lucilla a lot of that goddess power.
At the time, people lived in a very sort of fluid, spiritual manner.
It was between you and your ancestors.
Where we find Lucilla is in the space that is inevitable when power has lost its moral legitimacy.
As with others working on the movie, she saw parallels with the present day.
I think it is causing a lot of anxiety to a lot of people around the globe.
She cant help herself.
Shes bound by her upbringing, her sense of righteousness and her sense of decency.
This puts her in the most dangerous place.
But shes also got a good man [Pascals Marcus Acacius] and theyre on a collision course.
Nielsen talked to Scott about the centrality of that plot point.
My son has every reason to hate the very person I love.
And, by loving him, I put myself further into the cauldron of his rage.
As a mother, you will just do anything for your children.
But, at the same time, Im also a happily married woman.
I just felt that that was such an incredible and deliciously rich space to create a Lucilla from.
Its culturally and historically wrong.
It just wont work… And he said, OK, stop.
Write everything down and send it to me.
I was like, Oh my god, why cant you keep your mouth shut, Connie?
You had to go there, didnt you?
And then Ridley comes on and hes laughing.
He says, No, youre not fired, Connie, go to sleep.
Im just trying to remove the most offensive parts of your notes so that I can send them off.
Nielsen said he incorporated many of her changes, put some lines in the mouths of other actors.
But mostly, he made her feel he was listening.
And it encouraged her and other cast members to find resonance in moments by taking chances.
And he applies the same line, with the deepest respect to his mother.
Thats one of the most emotional moments in the film.
A line like that can either be nothing or something.
Its called great acting.
