Ridley Scott’s Gladiator was a $103 million budget movie that incorporated CGI in several of its scenes. With the movie set in ancient Rome, a lot of things had to be designed and/or recreated for a more realistic experience on set, post-production. First, production members were sent to scout locations to naturally provide an ancient Rome backdrop. Altogether, Gladiator was filmed in Italy, England, Malta, North Africa, and France.
When Gladiator‘s production team contracted The Mill, a British post-production company, for CGI, it was majorly for designing background effects. For instance, reconstructing a makeshift Colosseum to accommodate 35,000 arena spectators would not be cost-effective. So, The Mill used motion-capture tools to make 2,000 live actors appear as 35,000. However, no one anticipated Gladiator using CGI for one sad reason.
The Death Of Oliver Reed Was A Big Blow To Gladiator’s Production
Oliver Reed played a major supporting role in Gladiator as Proximo. While Maximus served Marcus Aurelius towards the beginning of Gladiator, he spent most of the movie’s running time as Proximo’s gladiator. Coincidentally, Maximus outlived both his masters.
On May 2, 1999, the production crew was saddened to receive news of Oliver Reed’s death. Reed had collapsed after a drinking competition in Valletta, Malta. He succumbed to death in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. In a yet-to-be-shot scene, the initial script had Maximus fight Proximo in the arena. Commodus orders the fight as a way of breaking Maximus’ spirit, having to kill his master.
Reed’s death meant the Gladiator scene had to be canceled. However, his character was too important to kill off immediately. Faced with the dilemma, Scott immediately called screenwriter William Nicholson to return to re-write the script. Nicholson immediately got on the next available flight to Malta.
CGI Was Used To Complete Proximo’s Scenes In Gladiator
Oliver Reed’s death left Ridley Scott with two options. Rework Reed’s entire scenes or find a way to keep the actor without affecting the movie’s screenplay. Luckily, the movie had an insurance contract of up to $25 million that would allow a new actor to re-film all of Reed’s scenes. However, Ridley Scott wanted to keep Reed’s Proximo in Gladiator as an honor. Also, with the tight and busy five months filming schedule, other actors were already exhausted.
With the script reworked to exclude Maximus and Proximo’s arena fight, the character was killed off to save Maximus. The Mill was called to use CGI on a Reed body double. Despite the hurdles, The Mill successfully used CGI to complete Oliver Reed’s scenes in Gladiator.
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