Ridley Scott’s Gladiator as we know it might not have come to fruition without Steven Spielberg’s three initial story conditions. Gladiator remains one of the most celebrated action movies of the 21st century despite being released at the turn of the century in 2000. The story behind how Gladiator became a massive success began with the original story by screenwriter David Franzoni, who also wrote the screenplay for Steven Spielberg’s historical epic drama Amistad (1997).
While working with Spielberg on Amistad, which was nominated for four Academy Awards in 1998, Franzoni approached the director about his story idea that would eventually become Gladiator. Franzoni started developing the project during the 1970s after reading the book Those Who Are About To Die by Daniel P. Mannix, which was published in 1958. When he asked Spielberg about his interest in the project, the acclaimed director asked Franzoni three critical questions that would determine the success of the Gladiator project forever.
Steven Spielberg Needed To Hear 3 Story Details When Gladiator Was Pitched
Spielberg asked Franzoni three key questions during his Gladiator pitch, according to the Writers Guild of America. Franzoni recalls in his conversation with Spielberg, “My gladiator movie, it was about ancient Roman gladiators—not American, Japanese, whatever else? Yes, I said. Taking place in the ancient Coliseum? Yes. Fighting with swords and animals to the death and such?” to which Spielberg responded, “Yes. Great, let’s make the movie.”
Spielberg was then able to get the project greenlit with director Ridley Scott attached. Initially, Franzioni had written and submitted a draft to Scott, but the director was not a fan of Franzoni’s style of dialogue. Scott hired John Logan, screenwriter of Any Given Sunday (1998), to rewrite the dialogue in the screenplay and the rest is history. Without Spielberg’s three initial conditions that it was about the Romans, took place in the Coliseum, and involved brutal sword-fighting to the death, Gladiator might have never been made.
How Steven Spielberg Helped Pave A Way For Gladiator’s Success
Without Spielberg’s cautious approach to Franzoni’s pitch, Gladiator could have been misguided from the start and might not have ever gotten the momentum to be made into the beloved movie it still is today. Franzoni deserves credit for doing the proper research in drafting a solid and accurate skeleton for Spielberg, Scott, and Logan to work with, which is why he’s still credited as one of the three writers on the film. While a Spielberg-directed Gladiator would have been fascinating in its own right, his early skepticism and three initial conditions paved the way for Scott to make it into an outstanding movie.
Gladiator
Ridley Scott’s historical epic Gladiator stars Russell Crowe as Maximus, a Roman general who is betrayed after the death of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris). Pressed into slavery, Maximus is forced to fight in the Coliseum for the entertainment of the cruel new emperor, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). Rising to the challenge and inspiring the slaves, Maximus fights to undermine Commodus’s unjust rule.
- Release Date
- May 5, 2000
- Director
- Ridley Scott
- Cast
- Russell Crowe , Derek Jacobi , Oliver Reed , Connie Nielsen , Joaquin Phoenix , Djimon Hounsou , Richard Harris
- Rating
- R
- Runtime
- 155 minutes
- Genres
- Action , Drama , Epic , History
