20 Things You Didn’t Know About Gladiator

Opinions differ as to why, but the Gladiator production elected to build a model of the Roman Colosseum in Malta rather than film in the real thing. Some say it’s because Ridley Scott decided that the Colosseum - the Colosseum! - was too small, while others (Russell Crowe, in fact) insist that they just couldn’t get permission. The latter seems far more likely, while the former seems far more… well, Ridley Scott.

Anyway! The Colossal Colosseum was only a fraction - a third to a half - of the actual Not-Quite-As-Colossal Colosseum, constructed from plaster and plywood to be 52 foot tall. The non-shooting-side of the papier-mache edifice contained the tent village and storage facilities that would be needed as the ‘backstage’ area, and the remaining building was added digitally in post-production.

Both real life extras and cardboard cut-outs were used to feign the sold-out crowds they’d need on camera. Two thousand or so real people in costume thronged the lower two levels, shot from different angles and digitally motion-captured and mapped to digitally duplicate them across the whole structure.

As there was only actually one end of the structure available to be shot, the actual performances inside the Colosseum had to be captured twice, using the first set of takes to masquerade as the north entrance and the second set, the south.

That, and all the computer-generated shenanigans, made it possible for Scott and his crew to create the illusion that the Roman Colosseum had come to life once more.