Big Screen Rome - Amazon Web Services

gladiator epic that would reflect contemporary social issues. The film’s
budget of $103 million made Gladiator the new studio’s most expensive
venture ever, and DreamWorks eventually enlisted Universal as a coproducing
partner. Early on, Gladiator had all the buzz of a major summer
blockbuster event, creating its own momentum in a public eager to see a
recognizable, yet utterly original, image of ancient Rome.
British director Ridley Scott (1937–), famous for his elaborate visual style,
directed some of Hollywood’s most successful and influential films. In his
early career, Scott worked as a set designer for the BBC in London, but
soon moved to directing. His first feature, The Duellists (1977), a critically
acclaimed cult film, earned Scott enough notoriety to secure his next
project, the science-fiction extravaganza Alien (1979). Scott’s visual skills
were also evident in his next feature, Blade Runner (1982), a desolate,
futuristic vision of Los Angeles that inspired a decade of cyberpunk style.
Unhappy with the studio release, however, Scott originated the concept of
“the director’s cut”; the new version (1993) received even more accolades
than the original film. After a couple of less important films, Scott returned
to his signature visual complexity in Black Rain (1989), a cop thriller set in
a murky Japanese urban landscape. Perhaps Scott’s most interesting directorial
choice was the feminist road-movie Thelma and Louise (1991); this
provocative and much-discussed film tapped into the social and sexual
anxieties of America in the early decade, and earned Scott his first Oscar
nomination as Best Director. Scott continued to explore strong female
characters in G.I. Jane (1997), although the film was roundly panned by
reviewers. After the success of Gladiator, for which he was again nominated
for an Oscar, Scott directed the horror feature Hannibal (2001),
followed by the critically and commercially successful war film Black Hawk
Down (2001), which earned him another Oscar nomination. In 2003, Scott
was knighted by the British crown. Scott takes on the epic form again with
his film about the Crusades, Kingdom of Heaven (2005).
Making the Movie
Scott’s stunning visual style is everywhere evident in Gladiator, as he revitalized
the epic form by the application of modern cinematic techniques
and high-level special effects in his updated reconstruction of Roman
antiquity (Cyrino, 130). As in earlier epics, the opening title narration in
Gladiator prepares the viewer for the first act of the film. But instead of a
sonorous voice-over, the scrolling of a written prologue accompanied by
226 GLADIATOR (2000)