10 Secret Techniques Films Used To Ensure Perfection

Ridley Scott’s legendary Roman epic gets off to a dramatic start with that remarkable battle scene in the Germanian woods. Scott wanted something special - specifically, he wanted Maximus to use fire against the barbarian foe, something problematic at the best of times, but especially when shooting on location with a huge cast of extras to wrangle. But naturally Scott didn’t just want a couple of flaming arrows: he wanted a conflagration.

The scene was filmed in Bourne Woods in Surrey in southern England - and largely because Scott found out that the area was already earmarked by the UK’s Royal Forestry Commission for deforestation.

Sensing the stars aligning, Scott simply offered to take care of it for them. The production was given the go-ahead to cut down swathes of trees at the filming location… and set the fires they wanted. This cleared a large enough area to stage the battle they had planned without worrying about the proximity of the woods themselves.

Newspaper reports of the time accused Scott’s production of rampantly destroying the English countryside, which was ridiculous: no Hollywood production would take liberties like that and risk being sued.

In fact, the shoot gave the Commission the idea to loan the woods out to future productions on a regular basis, as previously it had only been used to double as the Burmese jungle for seventies sitcom It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum. Subsequent films that used the location thanks to Gladiator’s influence (and forced clearance) include Children Of Men, Avengers: Age Of Ultron, Wonder Woman and no less than three Harry Potter movies.