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) pair did win the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score as co-composers. The film's mainstream success is responsible for an increased interest in Roman and classical history in the United States. According to "The New York Times", this has been dubbed the "Gladiator Effect". The Cicero biography "Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician" and Gregory Hays's translation of Marcus Aurelius's "Meditations" received large spikes in sales after the release of the film. The film also began a revival of the historical epic genre with films such as "Troy", "The Alamo", "King Arthur", "Alexander", "300", "Kingdom of