Gladiator Changed 1 Battle Scene Due To VFX Costs (& It Was For The Better)

A major historical change in a memorable battle scene in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator was actually the result of the high costs of visual effects. While visual effects have often both added and detracted from the quality of many movies, a war epic such as Gladiator necessitated the use of VFX, which likely made up a sizable part of the film’s $103 million budget. Ridley Scott had a very clear and historically accurate vision in mind for one of Maximus’s (Russel Crowe) most intense battle scenes at the Roman Coliseum, but the end result was actually much better than his original intention.