TV NEWS
Gladiator's Most Famous Shot Came from a Chance BTS Encounter
By CAROLYN JENKINS
One of the moments from "Gladiator" that left a lasting impression on audiences was a beautiful and unplanned sequence that strikes at the heart of what it is to be human.
Interspersed throughout the film are shots of Maximus' hand brushing through wheat stalks. The wheat field represents a place where he could be reunited with his dead family.
In a profile for The New Yorker, director Ridley Scott explained that the iconic shot came about after he saw Crowe's body double walking through a field of wheat.
Scott spontaneously decided to capture this on film. It ended up helping him, and the character, to better explore the concepts of the afterlife and immortality.