In order to replace Oliver Reed, who died in the middle of filming “Gladiator” at the age of 61, Universal Studios had to pay a whopping $3 million for only 2 minutes on screen!
When Oliver Reed dies at the age of 61 of a heart attack, he has not completed all his scenes of the Gladiator peplum, in which he plays the character of the freed slave Proximo. To bring the British actor back to life and complete the shoot, director Ridley Scott then used a double and digital special effects.
“What we did was modest compared to our other challenges on film”says John Nelson, visual effects supervisor of the classic at the five Oscars. “What Oliver did was way more amazing. He delivered an inspiring, moving performance. All we did was help him finish his job.“
After a slight modification of the scenario, Ridley Scott precisely shot two scenes with doubles and digital special effects in order to “resuscitate” Oliver Reed. The first is the one that sees the character of Proximo visiting Maximus (Russell Crowe) in prison, while the second is the one where he allows himself to be attacked and killed, letting the same Maximus escape.
10 Departed Stars Who Were Resurrected On-Screen
The financial investment to keep Oliver Reed on screen and not replace him with another actor was quite colossal. Judge for yourself: for just 2 more minutes on the screen, Universal Studios have indeed spent… more than 3.2 million dollars!
No one will regret this budget extension: Gladiator, released in theaters in 2000, is acclaimed by the public, bringing in more than 500 million dollars in revenue worldwide.
False Fitting: the blunders and errors of “Gladiator”