Gladiator (2000 film) Gladiator (2000 film) Gladiator is a 2000 epic historical drama film directed by Ridley Scott and written by David Franzoni, John Logan, and William Nicholson. The film was jointly produced and released by DreamWorks Pictures and Universal Pictures. It stars Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Ralf Möller, Oliver Reed (in his final role), Djimon Hounsou, Derek Jacobi, John Shrapnel, and Richard Harris. Crowe portrays Hispano-Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius, who is betrayed when Commodus, the ambitious son of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, murders his father and seizes the throne. Reduced to slavery, Maximus rises through the ranks of the gladiatorial
Gladiator (2000 film) decorative elements. In the bird's eye view of Rome when the city is introduced for the first time there are several buildings that did not exist at the time of "Gladiator". For example, the Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine is quite prominent; however, it was not completed until AD 312. The film's plot was influenced by two 1960s Hollywood films of the sword-and-sandal genre, "The Fall of the Roman Empire" and "Spartacus," and shares several plot points with "The Fall of the Roman Empire", which tells the story of Livius, who, like Maximus in "Gladiator," is Marcus Aurelius's intended successor.