Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, with special guests Stacy Grouden and Joe Griffin, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released every Saturday at 6pm GMT.
This time, Ridley Scott’s Gladiator.
As Rome extends its dominion over the rest of the world, General Maximus Decimus Meridius dreams only of returning home to his family. However, fate has other plans. When Maximus winds up accidentally involved in a sinister conspiracy surrounding the beloved Emperor Marcus Aurelius, his entire life is thrown into chaos. Maximus finds himself abandoned and left for dead. Recovered by a slave trader, Maximus is sold to an older entertainment manager Proximo, who sees a lot of potential in “the Spaniard.”
At time of recording, it was ranked 44th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.
Show Notes:
- Recorded 15th October 2021.
- Note: Due to the COVID-19 situation, this episode was recorded remotely. We suspect, going forward that a lot of our episodes will be until the crisis resolves.
- Note: We mistakenly identify the jockstrap from Cinderella Man as the codpiece from Gladiator. We apologise for this error.
- Gladiator at the Internet Movie Database.
- The Top 250 at time of recording.
- Read Stacy’s articles at State.ie.
- Read Stacy’s reviews at entertainment.ie.
- Watch Stacy and Darren at The Escapist Movie Podcast.
- Follow Stacy on Twitter.
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- Dave Crow at Den of Geek looks back at how the defeat of Dreamworks’ Saving Private Ryan at the Oscars changed the way that the awards operated, April 2021.
- Michael Dwyer at The Irish Times takes note of Dreamworks’ relationship to the Academy Awards at the turn of the millennium, February 2002.
- Russell Crowe talks to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon about how the Gladiator script was “so bad”, June 2020.
- Russell Crowe talks to The Independent about the difficulties with the script for Gladiator, August 2016.
- Calla Wahlquist at The Guardian reports on Russell Crowe’s public feud with Virgin Australia, December 2015.
- Ben Child at The Guardian reports on Russell Crowe’s threats to murder producers on the set of Gladiator, April 2010.
- Neil Curry and Leila Hussain at CNN report on the first meeting of Henry Cavill and Russell Crowe, June 2013.
- Paul Healy at The Irish Independent reports on Russell Crowe buying drinks for everybody at the airport bar before leaving Ireland, March 2015.
- Hello Magazine reports on Russell Crowe’s generous tip to Welsh bar staff during the filming of Robin Hood, June 2009.
- Naomi Rea at ArtNet reports on Russell Crowe’s “art of divorce” auction, April 2018.
- Steph Harmon at The Guardian reports on the purchase of Russell Crowe’s jockstrap from Cinderella Man to gift to the last Blockbuster store, April 2018.
- Tiffany Hsu at The New York Times reports on the last Blockbuster store in America, March 2019.
- Joshua Rothman at The New Yorker looks back on the way in which the success of Gladiator spoke to a millennial crisis of masculinity, April 2016.
- Manohla Dargis at The New York Times looks at the popularity of Gladiator and the success of Russell Crowe as speaking to American anxieties over masculinity, March 2001.
- Russell Crowe talks to ABC News about his “bad boy” image, January 2006.
- Amy MacKelden at Nicki Swift looks back on the press controversy around the affair between Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan, August 2019.
- Alex Denney at Dazed Digital looks back on how Fight Club spoke to a millennial crisis of masculinity, September 2014.
- Elvis Mitchell reviews Gladiator in The New York Times, May 2000.
- Roger Ebert reviews Gladiator in The Chicago Sun-Times, May 2000.
- Anthony Lane reviews Gladiator in The New Yorker, May 2000.
- Jessica Kiang reviews TENET in The New York Times, August 2020.
- Richard Natale at The Los Angeles Times reflects on the odds for Gladiator heading into the year’s Academy Awards, March 2001.
- Patrick Goldstein at The Los Angeles Times reflects on whether the Best Picture win for Gladiator signals the decline of the Academy Awards as a cultural institution, March 2001.
- Newsweek chats to Hollywood producers about the year’s Oscar nominees, February 2001.
- Justin Chang and Glenn Whipp debate whether Gladiator could win Best Picture twenty years laters, March 2021.
- Scott Tobias at The Guardian wonders whether Gladiator deserved the Best Picture Oscar, May 2020.
- Jeff Vice at Deseret News discusses the level of violence in Gladiator, May 2000.
- Christopher Plummer talks to The Hollywood Reporter about replacing Kevin Spacey in All the Money in the World, December 2017.
- Ridley Scott talks to Entertainment Weekly about replacing Kevin Spacey with Christopher Plummer in All the Money in the World, November 2017.
- Donald Clarke at The Irish Times talks about the use of Ireland as a location filming The Last Duel, October 2021.
- Eithne Shortall at The Times reports on the challenges of shooting a movie like The Last Duel during the pandemic, August 2020.
- Chris Lee at The Daily Beast looks at the evolving relationship between Ridley and Tony Scott, August 2012.
- ABC News announces Forrest Gump as America’s best loved Best Picture winner, February 2014.
- Ridley Scott talks to Directors’ Guild of America Quarterly about his craft and technique, Autumn 2010.
- Ronald Mellor at The Los Angeles Review of Books reflects on the obsession with the “decline and fall” of Rome, October 2021.
- Francis Fukuyama ponders “the end of history” in The National Interest, Summer 1989.
- Charles Krauthammer argues for “the unipolar moment” in Foreign Affairs, January 1990.
- Joseph S. Nye Jr. ponders President Bush’s “new world order” in Foreign Affairs, Spring 1992.
- Robert Harris talks to NPR about the inevitability of comparisons between the United States and Rome, November 2006.
- Cullen Murphy at The Atlantic considers the validity of comparisons between contemporary America and Ancient Rome, April 2021.
- Edward Watts talks to Vox about what the United States might learn from the collapse of the Roman Empire, January 2019.
- Adam Kirsch at The New Yorker talks about the ideals and the realities that colour the United States’ relationship with the Roman Empire, January 2012.
- Alex McCarthy at TalkSport looks back over Donald Trump’s relationship with professional wrestling, April 2020.
- Julian Catalano at The Los Angeles Times offers a brief introduction to the historical Emperor Commodus, May 2000.
- Alex von Tuzelman reflects on the historical accuracy (or otherwise) of Gladiator for The Guardian, July 2008.
- Seth Masket at Pacific Standard looks back on how Hollywood seemed to prime America for the arrival of Donald Trump, March 2016.
- Megan Garber at The Atlantic reflects on how Donald Trump’s narrative is that of the “outsider” favoured in popular culture, November 2016.
- Mark Lawson at The Guardian ruminates on pop culture’s fascination with the “accidental politician”, August 2016.
- Carl Hulse at The New York Times positions Barack Obama as the candidate who cleared the way for a generation of “outsider” politicians, February 2016.
- Richard McGregor and Anna Fifield at The Financial Times reflect on the gradual disillusionment with Obama’s integration into the establishment, November 2011.
- Dan P. McAdams at The Atlantic analyses Donald Trump’s narcissism, June 2016.
- Tanya Lewis at Scientific American reflects on the paranoia of Donald Trump and his supporters, January 2021.
- Helaine Olen at The Washington Post reflects on Donald Trump’s obsession with loyalty, April 2018.
- Chris Nashawaty at Esquire reflects on why Hollywood loves movies about movies, April 2021.
- Ethan Gates at The New Republic reflects on why Hollywood keeps awarding movies that are actually about movies, February 2015.
- Rick Lyman at The New York Times looks at the development of Gladiator, from original pitch to awards success, March 2001.
- Writer David Franzoni talks to The Los Angeles Times about how Gladiator is really a movie about movie-making, July 2004.
- Darren Mooney at The Escapist discusses Gladiator as an ode to a certain kind of movie-making, May 2020.
- Mike D’Angelo at The A.V. Club discusses Gladiator as a populist piece of cinema, November 2015.
- Steve Rose at The Guardian discusses the tension that exists within Gladiator about the power of spectacle, May 2020.
- Tony Gabrielle at The Daily Press discusses the influence and celebrity of gladiators in Ancient Rome, August 1994.
- Kenneth Turan at The Los Angeles Times reflects on the scale of the production of Gladiator, May 2000.
- Ridley Scott talks to The Guardian about approaching Gladiator as a hybrid of new and old filming techniques, May 2000.
- Ridley Scott talks to The Independent about the challenges of working around the death of Oliver Reed, May 2020.
- Jennifer Rubin at The Washington Post discusses the cliché of “the real America”, November 2018.
- Michelle Boorstein at The Washington Post talks about Coco as the rare modern movie to engage with the idea of religion and faith, March 2018.
- Robert Sinnerbrink at The Los Angeles Review of Books discusses the changing face of religion in mainstream Hollywood movies, May 2018.
- Ani Bundel at NBC News reflects on the popularity of the “new good boy canon”, August 2019.
- Lisa Gerrard talks to Synchrotones about her life and career, including working on Gladiator, May 2013.
- Entertainment Weekly talks to various historians about the historical accuracy of Gladiator, May 2000.
- Terry Press talks to The Hollywood Reporter about her life and career, May 2021.
- Terry Press talks to AdAge about the challenges in selling Gladiator to audiences, March 2001.
- Edmund Sanders at The Los Angeles Times reports on the advertising of Gladiator on Wells Fargo ATMs, May 2000.
- The New Zealand Herald reports on the rising popularity of ATM advertising, June 2000.
- Film Threat looks at the way in which geek friendly websites like Ain’t It Cool News were given access to movies like Gladiator by the studios to build hype, June 2000.
- Ridley Scott talks to UGO about possible plans for a sequel to Gladiator, August 2006.
- Nicholas Barber at The BBC takes a look at the proposed sequels to Gladiator, August 2018.
- Ridley Scott talks to IndieWire about the plans to shoot the sequel to Gladiator after Kitbag, September 2021.
- Darren Mooney at The Escapist discusses the resurrection of the Hollywood epic, August 2021.
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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: academy awards, america, best picture, brutality, Commodus, emperor, empire, epics, films, hollywood, joe griffin, masculinity, maximus, Movies, myth, Oscars, podcast, politics, ridley scott, rome, russell crowe, spectacle, stacy grouden, The 250, the end of history, violence |
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