20 Things You Didn’t Know About Gladiator
2. The Gladiator Effect
Gladiator's impact as a movie ranges far beyond the many historical epic dramas - Kingdom Of Heaven, Troy, 300, Alexander and many more - that were greenlit in its wake.
The film's huge commercial and critical success caused a significant spike in interest in classical Roman myth and history in America, a phenomenon that's been nicknamed 'the Gladiator Effect'. In particular, Cicero biography Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician and Gregory Hays's translation of Marcus Aurelius's Meditations shot up the non-fiction best seller lists.
It's also rumoured that the arena set piece from Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, which began production around the time of Gladiator's release, was heavily influenced by the film.
And if you were looking for a modern day equivalent of Commodus, you'd probably head unerringly towards Jack Gleeson's astonishingly obnoxious, sadistic Prince Joffrey from HBO's Game Of Thrones. Gleeson has confirmed that Phoenix's performance as Commodus - specifically, that smirk - was a big influence on how he chose to play the most hated teenager in television history.