Gladiator: The Making of the Ridley Scott Epic (Newmarket Pictorial Moviebooks) (Paperback)

~ Sharon Black (Author), Diana Landau (Editor), David Franzoni (Editor), Ridley Scott (Introduction), Walter Parkes (Foreword), John Logan (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Historians not affiliated with the movie Gladiator praise it as the most realistic depiction of Roman combat ever committed to celluloid. Gladiator: The Making of the Ridley Scott Epic illustrates how the filmmakers achieved that authenticity. It's the official tie-in, and one of the handsomest movie books Newmarket Press has ever produced. (No, it's not as fancy as The Art of the Matrix, but it's not that kind of massive book--this one is for the howling yet discerning fans in the cineplex coliseum.) The filmmakers explain how they coped with the considerable weight of Roman movie tradition--"Transcending the Toga," they call it--mostly by drawing their inspiration more from Gérôme's 1872 gladiator painting Pollice Verso ("Thumbs Down"), an evocative rendering of the life-or-death drama subject to the emperor's whim. Ridley Scott is famous as a director (the modern equivalent of an emperor), but he started out as a painter at London's Royal College of Art, and his training has served him well.

Explications of scary stunts and ingenious special-effects scenes, crisp film stills, fascinating storyboards, architectural renderings, thumbnail histories, cast profiles, production drawings of boar-tusk helmets and spiky maces--this little book packs in a lot of information, and enlarges one's appreciation of a very big movie. --Tim Appelo

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-An intriguing look at the Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning film. "Raising the Roman Empire" covers the background of the film, from its original conception and development to set design and the re-creation of the Colosseum. Short interviews with the principal actors include their takes on their respective characters and the actual history behind the story. "A Dream That Was Rome" uses narration, script excerpts, storyboards, and stills to describe the film's action. The entire book is lavishly illustrated with photos, production drawings, and reproductions. The design is attractive and lends itself to browsing. Readers will find many interesting facts, especially about the costumes (Russell Crowe's armor had to be duplicated 12 times) and the visual effects (extras were shot against a green screen and multiplied in the computer for the Colosseum crowd shots).
Susan Salpini, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Newmarket Press; First Edition ~1st Printing edition (November 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557044317
• ISBN-13: 978-1557044310
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #387,014 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars IF YOU LOVED GLADIATOR THE MOVIE-YOU'LL LOVE THE BOOK, October 19, 2000

By	grace la mell (boston, ma. USA) - See all my reviews

I was very pleased when I received the soft cover version of GLADIATOR. It is very well written with wonderful pictures that will remind you of how much you enjoyed the film. When you see the film it moves so swiftly that you don't have time to ask, "How'd they do that?" The historical facts are made clear in the book. Although there were liberties taken with those events, the film has the "feel" of the times. Ridley Scott, manages to let you in on secrets that made this movie so incredibly popular. It is a book you will wish to return to often, before and after seeing the film again. The star, Russell Crowe, a dynamite actor, tells how he learned the dangerous swordplay, that had to carefully choreographed so that no one was injured. Mr. Crowe had the magnetism necessary to make Maximus a great hero, and at the end you wish there could be more of the book, and more of the film. It's a beautifully put together book with lots of "inside" information. You will add this to your film library with pride.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An epic book from an epic film, December 25, 2000

By	Steven Charnick "a solo cello outside a chorus" (Ocean, NJ United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Presuming that prospective buyers of this book probably saw the movie, this book will not disappoint you. The movie was epic in scope, and although some historical inaccuracies existed, they did not detract at all from the movie, nor the performances of Russell Crowe, Connie Nielsen, Joachim Phoenix, and Richard Harris.

If you like to know the 'nuts and bolts' behind the making of a movie such as this, this is your book. If you are curious how they managed to 'reconstruct' the Coliseum complete with gladiator 'fans', this is your book.

A great gift for Gladiator and Russell Crowe fans alike.

Commodus was in fact Marcus Aurelius' son and the downfall of Rome, while already in progress, hastened when Commodus was made Caesar.

Enjoy! And watch the movie again.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterpiece In Its Own Rights, March 16, 2001

By	Movie Addict NZ (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This book was just as stunning as the movie. The many pictures were not just ones used for promotional purpoises but ones that were actually taken from other scenes in the movie. This book has everything, from parts of the screenplay to photos of the actors and director to the plans for the catapults used in the opening scenes for the battle of Germania. This book is highly recommended to anyone who likes to know how they make an epic movie of such size. Once you have read this book over you'll be wanting to see the movie again, and again, and again so you can see how they actually made these scenes. This movie has a huge international cast including New Zealander Russel Crowe. Hopefully he'll get the Oscar, and then there is the amazing actor Joaquin Phoenix and the late Oliver Reed who died just before the completion of the movie. This book tells you how they made some of the final scenes of Oliver Reed after he died. >Enjoy<