I år fylder Ridley Scotts prisvindende film Gladiator 20 år og er vel stadig en af de mest anerkendte film, der findes. Mange husker nok især den rørende slutning, hvor Russell Crowe i rollen som gladiatoren Maximus mister livet og dermed forenes med sin familie i det hinsides. Maximus' skæbne kunne dog sagtens have været endt helt anderledes.
For nyligt tog Empire sig en snak med Russell Crowe, som fortalte, at instruktøren Ridley Scotts oprindelige plan faktisk var at lade Maximus leve. Russell Crowe og Ridley Scott valgte først at ændre i manuskriptet under optagelserne efter at have drøftet slutningen sammen igen.
"That 'My name is Maximus...' speech is basically a suicide note. I remember Ridley coming up to me on set saying, 'Look, the way this is shaping up, I don't see how you live. This character is about one act of pure vengeance for his wife and child, and, once he's accomplished that, what does he do?' And my joke used to be, 'Yeah, what does Maximus do? Does he end up running a fucking pizzeria by the Colosseum?' He has a singular purpose, which is to meet his wife in the afterlife and apologise for not being there for her. And that's it."
Det var nok en meget god beslutning at ændre i den sorgfulde gladiators endelige skæbne.