When you picture the original Gladiator film from 2000, the first thing that likely comes to mind is Russell Crowe as Maximus Decimus Meridius. However, in an interview with Vanity Fair, the actor revealed that he actually almost dropped out of the film entirely as he didn’t like the script, and there were some strange inclusions that he didn’t agree with.
“I was confident about my abilities as a leading man. What I wasn’t confident about with ‘Gladiator’ was the world that was surrounding me.
“At the core of what we were doing was a great concept but the script, it was rubbish, absolute rubbish. And it had all these sorts of strange sequences.”
Gladiators were the original influencers
One of these ‘strange sequences’ was scenes in which the gladiators rode chariots that had promotions for olive oil and other products on them.
While this may have seemed like an anachronistic choice for the filmmakers, gladiators in the Roman Empire really did take on endorsement and product placement deals.
According to the marketing experts at Banknotes: “The Colosseum was the mecca of entertainment in Ancient Rome, exposing gladiators to thousands of people at once.
“This is why historians have long suggested that Roman Gladiators were arguably the first influencers of purchasing behaviours.”
Russell did actually know this but said that it just wouldn’t resonate with audiences. He exclaimed: “That’s all true but it’s just not going to ring right to a modern audience, they’re going to go, ‘What the fuck is all this?’”
Maybe he was on to something as the film grossed $465.4 million worldwide.
Gladiator 2 is out in cinemas on15 November 2024.