American Cinematographer - May 2000 - 41

Opposite: General
Maximus (Russell
Crowe) readies

and Remus, the twin sons of
the war god Mars, laid the

According to legend, Romulus

his sword for
melee with

foundation of Rome in the
Seven Hills

near

the Tiber

German

barbarians. This

River. True to

mythological form,
Romulus built his own city wall,
killed his jealous brother and
assumed dominion

over

page, top:
Maximus the
conqueror stands
amid the ravaged

the settle¬

battlefield.

Thus

began the steady rise in
power of the remaining brother's
namesake city and the Roman
Empire - an empire that lasted
more than 1,200
years and ruled
ment.

a

Cinematographer
John Mathieson

photographed the
battle sequence

using uncorrected
Kodak Vision
200T 5274,

much of the known world while

surviving maniacal rulers, barbarian
invasions and internal upheaval.
The rich history of Rome has
been the perfect proving ground for
motion picture studios determined
to create lavish spectacles. MGM
visited this period several times with
epics such as Ben Hur (two versions,
in both 1926 and

lending the
scenes a

was

convincingly re-create the grandeur

(Interestingly,

of ancient Rome.

Commodus is based

Gladiator
Maximus
Roman

begins

as

General

(Russell Crowe) leads the

legions to victory

over

the

character
on a

of

real histor¬

tent, a luxurious
haven from the

Commodus

hordes of Germanic tribes. A favorite

Colonia Commodiana

of

Paramount Pictures

(Richard Harris), Maximus is asked

ally fought in the gladiator arena
himself, imagining that he was the
god Hercules.)
For this colossal undertaking,
Scott selected British cinematogra¬
pher John Mathieson, who hadphotographed several projects for the
director's
production
houses.
Mathieson came up through the

Emperor

Aurelius

Marcus

by the dying ruler to succeed him in
power. In a fit of jealous rage, the
unbalanced
Commodus

heir

to

the

(Joaquin

throne,

Phoenix),

orders the execution of Maximus
and his

family. Maximus escapes, but
caught, enslaved and forced into
gladiator training - where he must
survive a number of savage bouts
while
plotting his
revenge.
he is

toned down

during color
timing. Bottom:
In the emperor's

figure who did lapse into insan¬
ity. The unstable emperor renamed
Rome the Colony of Commodus -

ical

1959), Quo Vadis
(1951) and Julius Caesar (1953).

produced The
Sign of the Cross (1932), Cleopatra
(1934), and, many years later, The
Fall of the Roman Empire (with Rank
in 1964). Rank also produced Antony
and Cleopatra in 1973. In 1963,20th
Century Fox put its own version of
the Egyptian queen's life on the big
screen with Cleopatra, a decade after
the religious-flavored feature The
Robe. RKO Pictures laced up the
sandals for Last Days of Pompeii in
1935 (which was remade in 1960 by
an Italian production company and
released by United Artists). Universal

cold,

bluish look that

traditional
as an

camera

-

and

actu¬

harsh front line,
a

brooding

(Joaquin Phoenix)
conceives

a

strategy to
eliminate

Maximus, who
threatens his
ascension to the
throne.

ranks and worked

assistant to director of photog¬

raphy Gabriel Beristain for a number

also traveled back in time with the
1960 slave-revolt drama

Spartacus.
drought of more
than 25 years, Rome's brutality and
hedonistic delights will be showcased
in
theaters
once
again as
Now, after

PU8LDrinecatvmuecwrCsoak.sl

ocurftesy

Phot s

a

DreamWorks SKG (with Universal

Pictures) takes

an

epic stab at the

with the aptly named
Gladiator. Following in the historic
footsteps of previous studios and

genre

their

large-scale

productions,
a reliably
masterful director, Ridley Scott, to
DreamWorks turned

to

American

Cinematographer 35
American Cinematographer - May 2000

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