Gladiator filming locations
Film locations: Surrey; Morocco; Malta
Gladiator filming location: Maximus fights in the ‘African’ arena, Aït Ben Haddou, Morocco
Ridley Scott’s Oscar-winning epic film borrows heavily from Anthony Mann’s 1964 Fall of the Roman Empire (made on vast sets in Spain, and which had Alec Guinness in the Richard Harris role of Marcus Aurelius, and Christopher Plummer as the barking mad emperor Commodus) and Stanley Kubrick‘s Spartacus (which was, itself, begun by Anthony Mann).
The savage opening battle, set in ‘Germania’, was staged at The Bourne near Farnham, Surrey. The story that filming caused ructions among environmentalists after swathes of forest were cleared seems to be a bit of a concoction – this was an area already scheduled for clearing by the Forestry Commission.
The African town, where Maximus (Russell Crowe) is sold into slavery, is AÔt Ben Haddou, near Ouarzazate in Morocco. Director Ridley Scott returned to the same locale to film Holy Land scenes for Kingdom of Heaven.
The provincial arena was added to the existing village, which had already hosted films such as David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia, The Last Days of Sodom and Gomorrah (co-directed by Sergio Leone and Robert Aldrich) and Jewel of the Nile.
The vast ‘Roman’ sets (with extensive CGI additions) were constructed on the massive remains of Fort Ricasoli on Malta, later used for the filming of Troy.
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Gladiator, 2000
Director
Cast
- Russell Crowe
- Joaquin Phoenix
- Oliver Reed
- Connie Nielsen
- Richard Harris
- Derek Jacobi
- Djimon Hounsou
- David Schofield
- David Hemmings
visit the film locations
Morocco: Getting there: flights to Menara (Marrakech) or Mohammed V (Casablanca)
Tourist info: Tourism in Morocco
Specialist tours: Cosmos Tourama Tour holidays, including Morocco and visits to Aït Ben Haddou
Malta: Visit Fort Ricasoli
Trivia
The striking town of Aït Ben Haddou has also hosted Sergio Leone and Robert Aldrich's one-time scandalous epic The Last Days of Sodom and Gomorrah, as well as The Jewel of the Nile and scenes for Lawrence of Arabia.
Much of the same story (albeit without the gladiator of the title) is covered in Anthony Mann's sombre The Fall of the Roman Empire. Filmed on gigantic sets built in Spain), its box-office failure is largely credited with ending the 60s cycle of increasingly grandiose historical epics.