The 1872 painting that inspired Ridley Scott’s ‘Gladiator’: “The glory and wickedness”Long before Ridley Scott read a finished script for Gladiator, before Russell Crowe had been cast and before ancient Rome was painstakingly recreated on screen, a single image convinced him to make the epic. So, they walked into Scott’s office armed with a reproduction of Pollice Verso, which, Wick noted, was “beautifully shaded, and because it was in the blush of the British Empire, it was slightly idealised”. According to Parkes, Scott simply looked at the painting and replied, “I don’t care, I’ll do it”. Scott embraced the painting so completely that it became a visual blueprint for Gladiator, its composition recreated onscreen when Commodus, played by Joaquin Phoenix, waits to decide Maximus’ fate. The production designers also repeatedly returned to Gérôme’s work as their north star when constructing the world of the film.