20 Things You Somehow Missed In Gladiator
6. One Extra Really, Really Wanted His Moment In The Sun
The film includes dozens of crowd scenes using thousands of extras, because, after all, what good are gladiator games without a cheering, bloodthirsty crowd?
In one of the first scenes set in the Colosseum, the camera moves across the crowd to the royal box, where Lucilla and Commodus take in the spectacle. As the camera pans right, a dark haired man wearing a brown outfit with a red cape noticeably moves from behind a pole in front of him to his left, following the camera pan for a few seconds, to the point that he ends up blocking the view of the man sitting behind him.
Actually, extras proved problematic in a few ways. In another establishing shot, one person can be seen hiding a very modern plastic water bottle behind a seat (although considering that the temperature usually hovered around 100 F / 38 C in the arena, who could be blamed for wanting water?) Another extra who appeared to be very happy to be watching the chariot battle could be seen loudly cheering and clapping...while wearing sunglasses, which definitely were not a thing in Ancient Rome.
Everyone wants their shot at fame and glory.