Various historians have tried to find proof that the awning in the Coliseum really was used as a cooling system.
Like modern day athletes, ancient Roman gladiators did product endorsements. The producers considered including this in the script but discarded the idea as unbelievable.
Russell Crowe began shooting for Gladiator a few months after The Insider (1999) wrapped. He had gained upwards of 40 pounds for his Oscar-nominated role in The Insider and yet lost it all before Gladiator began. He claims he did nothing special other than normal work on his farm in Australia.
Lou Ferrigno was original cast as Tigris of Gaul, but was replaced during production by Sven-Ole Thorsen who had been lobbying hard for the part.
Oliver Reed suffered a fatal heart attack during filming. Some of his sequences had to be re-edited and a double, photographed in the shadows and with a 3D CGI mask of Reed's face, was used as a stand-in. The film is dedicated to his memory.
Connie Nielsen found the 2000-year-old signet ring which she wears in the movie, in an antique store.
In the Colosseum scenes, only the bottom two decks are actually filled with people. The other thousands of people are computer-animated.
Among the chanting of the Germanic hordes at the beginning of the film are samples of the Zulu war chant from the film Zulu (1964).
In the Spanish dubbed version Maximus says he is from Emerita Augusta (now called Merida). The Spanish dubbers claimed that, "Trujillo doesn't combine the 'qualities' to be cradle of the gladiator."
The wounds on Russell Crowe's face after the opening battle scene are real, caused when his horse startled and backed him into tree branches. The stitches in his cheek are clearly visible when he is telling Commodus he intends to return home.
Maximus' ('Russell Crowe' ) description of his home (specifically how the kitchen is arranged and smells in the morning and at night) was ad-libbed - it's a description of Crowe's own home in Australia.
Character actor Sven-Ole Thorsen not only played Tigris the Gaul but doubled as one of the spectators during that same battle.
The yak helmet worn by the gladiator who was slain by Hagen, is the same one worn by the warrior slain by Sean Connery, in Time Bandits (1981).
Some of the battle music on the soundtrack interpolates variations on "Mars, the Bringer of War" from Gustav Holst's "The Planets".
During filming, director Ridley Scott wore the red cap worn by Gene Hackman in the movie Crimson Tide (1995), which was directed by Ridley's brother, Tony Scott.
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