4. Oliver Reed's Character Proximo Was Supposed To Survive Until The End
One of the saddest things about Gladiator is that, just as it seemed to signal a return from the wilderness for Oliver Reed, who hadn't made a film in some time, it was also to be his last. Of course, after the grief had passed, the next point of order for the production team was how were they supposed to finish the film without him? Some clever use of footage from previous takes, the use of body doubles and some judicious CGI allowed them to change the plot and include the scene in which he gives Maximus the keys and is subsequently murdered by the Praetorian guards, but originally he was supposed to survive until the very end, burying the figures in the sand after Maximus dies in the arena. Fortunately the character of Juba, played by Djimon Hounsou, had been padded out by this point, so the honour of delivering the film's final lines went to him instead.
