4. Russell Crowe Got Battered For Gladiator's Fight Scenes
Considering he antagonised so many people, it's actually surprising Russell Crowe didn't end up with more bones broken on the set of Ridley Scott's Gladiator. Having already made an enemy of Oliver Reed - who, hellraiser to the end, offered to fight Crowe himself - Crowe went on to alienate screenwriter William Nicholson as well, rewriting much of his dialogue and telling him, "Your lines are garbage, but I'm the greatest actor in the world and I can make even garbage sound good". To earn his Best Actor Oscar, Crowe took a major beating to play Gladiator's Maximus, acquiring real wounds on his face for the film's opening battle scene when his horse backed him into tree branches (it's possible the horse took a disliking to Crowe), and breaking bones in his foot and hip and injuring both bicep tendons for the film's gladiatorial scenes. Director Scott considered his lead actor just valuable enough that he had people with tranquiliser darts on standby for a scene involving tigers, though you can see from the finished film that they too tried their best to take Crowe down.
Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the dashing young princes. Follow Brogan on twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion: @BroganMorris1
