Was Commodus nuts?: The gory truth about the facts of `Gladiator'

It's bloody, garish, amazingly realistic and set to have the masses buzzing for a long time. But what we really want to know about "Gladiator," besides how many people Russell Crowe (as bloody Gen. Maximus) sliced up, is how did they get such a cool-looking Colosseum? And was that Commodus guy really such a jerk? Read on . . .

Q: How did they get such a cool Colosseum?

A: The filmmakers spent nearly five months building their ancient Rome on the island of Malta. Sets were interlaced with a well-weathered Napoleonic-era fort and other existing buildings.

Only part of the Colosseum was constructed: a first tier about a third of the circumference of the original and the guts of the building, with its cages and its elevators to hoist props, wild animals and gladiators onto the sand-covered field of combat. They even recreated the velarium, the arena's retractable, silk sun roof.

Q: So how did they fit 50,000 people in the set?

A: They didn't. Visual-effects supervisor John Nelson and his team filled in the rest of the Colosseum with computer-graphic imaging, blending it with the sets so that the film boasts overhead views and panoramic, 360-degree shots. They transformed the 2,000 extras on the Colosseum set into a digital crowd of 30,000 people.

"Each virtual spectator could cheer, look serious or nonchalantly talk," Nelson said. "We could have made them do the wave if we'd wanted to."

Q: Did emperor Marcus Aurelius really want to turn Rome back into a republic?

A: No way. The real Marcus Aurelius, who ruled from A.D. 161-180 and is best known for his "Meditations" on Stoic philosophy, did no such thing. He made his son co-emperor in A.D. 177 when Commodus was just 17.

Q: Was Commodus really as nutso as Joaquin Phoenix portrays him?

A: Most definitely. Historians say flatly that he was insane. His brutal misrule, which lasted until A.D. 192, set off civil strife that ended nearly a century of prosperity and marked the beginning of the decline of the Roman Empire. The real Commodus fancied himself to be Hercules and loved playing gladiator. He is said to have killed no fewer than five hippopotamuses in one day at the Colosseum, 100 leopards on another day. His advisers had him strangled in his bath.

Q: Was there a real Maximus?

A: Nope.

Q: Did people actually get killed in the real Colosseum?

A: Yes, indeed. The Colosseum was begun sometime around A.D. 70 and officially dedicated in A.D. 80 by Emperor Titus. The inaugural games lasted 100 days. Thousands of gladiators and thousands of wild animals died.