See Russell Crowe Visit The Location Of His Most Iconic Film
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Russell Crowe is with his family on vacation, and he had the opportunity to drop one of the biggest dad jokes of all time. Just a note to dads, don’t even try to top it, because you never played Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Crowe did, in 2000’s epic film Gladiator, so when he took his family on vacation in Italy, he of course visited the legendary Colosseum in Rome. He then took a picture with his kids just outside the Colosseum gates and posted it to his Twitter account, with the caption “taking the kids to see my old office.”
The 58-year-old L.A. Confidential actor has been tweeting from across Italy for the past week, showing off pictures with his family like any proud parent would. Of course, Russell Crowe was only joking about the Colosseum being his old office, and even though his character in Gladiator did battle there in the film, it was not used as a shooting location for the Oscar-winning movie. Sorry if this disappoints you, but the Colosseum used in the film was actually a one-third scale replica constructed on the island of Malta, a small country in the Mediterranean Sea between Sicily and Northern Africa, which stood in for ancient Rome. Even at one-third scale, the set was 52 feet tall, took over seven months to build, and cost $1 million to make. Shooting there took nineteen weeks, according to Yardbarker. CGI enhanced the set to look much bigger.
Directed by legendary director Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner), Gladiator was an absolute smash at the box office, grossing over $60 million worldwide. It was nominated for twelve Academy Awards and won five, including Best Picture, Best Costume Design, Best Sound, and Best Visual Effects. It also won Russell Crowe his only Best Actor Oscar, although he’s been nominated two other times (The Insider, A Beautiful Mind). Although critics in general liked the film, it wasn’t universally praised. It only has a 78% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a bit low for a Best Picture winner, and even Roger Ebert wasn’t impressed, giving it two stars and criticizing the movie’s writing (although it was later nominated for Best Original Screenplay). Audiences, however, gave it a more favorable 87% rating, and the film has only grown in popularity over the years. The film also starred Joaquin Phoenix in a memorable role (which earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination), Connie Nielsen, the great Oliver Reed (who passed away during filming), and the late Richard Harris. Fans of the film will be happy to know that a sequel is in development by Ridley Scott, which will pick up the story 30 years later, which means it could center around his son Lucius (Neilsen played his mother Lucilla in the film).
Russell Crowe wasn’t done tweeting Gladiator references from Italy. Just yesterday, he posted more pictures from the Colosseum, with the Italian phrase “quello che facciamo in vita, riecheggia nell’eternità.” Even if you don’t know Italian, you could probably guess what it says. A quick verification by Translate.com confirms it as his iconic line from the film: “What we do in life echoes in eternity.”
