Production Designer Arthur Max & Costume Designer Dave Crossman Bring Ancient Rome to Life in 'Gladiator II'
Courtesy of Paramount
There’s an undeniable epic quality to Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II. Twenty-four years after Gladiator, Scott has returned with a film that’s bigger, bolder, and bloodier. In order to pull off this return to ancient Rome, Scott had to call upon some trusted crew who have been frequent collaborators throughout his storied career. Arthur Max, production designer, and Dave Crossman, military costume designer, were integral to building the epic world of ancient Rome.
Set sixteen years after the events of the original film, Gladiator II sees Rome under the rule of twin emperors (Joseph Quinn & Fred Hechinger). Acacius (Pedro Pascal), one of the army’s most powerful generals, is disillusioned by the violence of war as he returns from his latest conquest. One of his prisoners, Lucius (Paul Mescal), finds himself in the gladiator’s ring. Unbeknownst to him and many others, Lucius harbors a secret identity that could force Rome to its knees. None of this would be believable without Arthur Max’s production design or Dave Crossman’s military costume expertise.
Check out the full interviews with Arthur Max and Dave Crossman below, or continue scrolling for the remainder of the article.
Arthur MaxCredit: Giles Keyte
There are few filmmakers who are able to create a movie on the scale that Scott seemingly does with ease. These immersive sets are thanks to Max and his crew. His work on the original Gladiator garnered him an Oscar, and his work on the sequel will likely get him another nomination. With all the massive buildings, though, is there a small detail Max wishes people would notice?
“There's a lot of them,” Max smiles. “You have to look carefully and not blink. A lot of the motifs of the architecture in terms of the capitals and the moldings are the animal motifs. They proliferate almost every set. We spent a lot of time trying to enrich this film compared to what we did on the first one. It's quicker and easier to do it digitally now.”
Technology may make Max’s work easier, but there’s no replacement for a human’s eye for detail. Take the statue of Marcus Aurelius that’s featured in both films. For Gladiator, Max and his team constructed the statue out of “chicken wire and a metal armature.” Then, plaster was filled into the mold and the end result was coated in resin. Because of the hands-on work required, Max describes Gladiator as a “handmade” film.
“It took quite a long time. I think we're talking about over a period of six weeks to make that statue. Whereas now, you have a small mock-up of the statue and you scan it digitally. You can send that file to a computer-controlled cutting machine and have it carved out of medium-density foam in a matter of weeks.”
Even with the strides in technology, there’s still a “handmade” quality to Gladiator II. “All the tools come to bear,” Max explains. “If it was going to be for a close-up rather than a big, wide shot, we did some very specific pieces of clay carving in the traditional way because you get a finer level of detail that way.”
Dave Crossman
Attention to detail is essential when you’re designing the costumes for 150 gladiators. After spending six years in the Star Wars universe, Crossman worked with Scott on his biopic of Napoleon Bonaparte who, ironically, took much inspiration from ancient Rome. Despite the real Napoleon’s connection to the time period of Gladiator II, Crossman only found one commonality: “They were just both stressful jobs,” he laughs. “We were all trying to kind of move on a bit mentally from Napoleon because it was a very difficult job. Gladiator II was very hard, but it was more linear and less complex.”
It’s hard to imagine Gladiator II was a less complex piece of work given all the different elements that make up each of the gladiators’ outfits. From the shoes to the pteruges to the chest plate and the all-important helmet, Crossman had his hands full.
“There's about eight general types of gladiator, each type with a certain type of armor because of the style of fighting that they're trained to do. What we were trying to do was show off these types of gladiators in the film a bit. You'll see the guy with the trident with something on his upper shoulder called Rotarians, but he doesn't wear a helmet. He wears a headband, you know?”
“The helmets are always the coolest thing,” Crossman continues. “Most costume films, be it Star Wars to Gladiator, it's always about the helmet. The helmet is always the first thing to get designed.”
Perhaps the most surprising revelation from Crossman is which piece of armor cost the most money. One may think it would be the battle armor worn by Pedro Pascal that looks to be made of marble. In actuality, it’s the woven peasant armor worn by Paul Mescal at the beginning of the film.
“There was so much hand-making involved. It's individual strands of leather woven to a board and then shaped into cuirass and bound. It was all done by hand. We had to do eight sets of them. The amount of labor that goes into that is quite a lot,” Crossman explains.
At the end of the day, both Max and Crossman had what remained of ancient Rome’s history to guide them in their designs for Gladiator II. “I like a bit of recreating,” Crossman says. “You can always find the references for the footprint of where certain costumes come from, even from the original Star Wars films.”
“We try to be as authentic as possible to the historical reality,” Max says. “A lot of that detail has disappeared in the mists of time. When you get to that place, you just invent, using your instincts.”
