10. Maximus Decimus Meridius' Scars Come From Russell Crowe's On Location Accidents
Gladiator opens with an impressive battle between the Roman army and the marauding Germans which ranks amongst the best battle scenes in the history of cinema. Blood and mud fly in every direction, and Scott's impressive camerawork gets right in on the action, detailing every blow and cut with gory precision. Maximus Meridius (Russell Crowe) isn't a general who likes to sit back on the sidelines and watch his troops do all the dirty work - he's more than happy to get in on the action himself and fight for Rome, and he has the scars to prove it. The make up department needn't have bothered applying them to Russell Crowe - he'd already earned them himself performing his own stunts. One particular stunt saw him fall back on his horse and into a tree, where a branch pierced his face, leaving the prominent scar you can see in the film. Whatever your thoughts are about Crowe (and he does have a reputation among stuntmen for not pulling his punches) he isn't afraid to get hurt - throughout the production of Gladiator he'd come a cropper on a number of occasions, breaking the odd bone or two.
