Another day, another controversy in which Ridley Scott has royally p***ed off the historical community.
The director of Gladiator, Napoleon, Alien, and soon-to-come-out Gladiator 2, has again invited controversy with the sequel to his iconic film starring Russell Crowe.
This also happened in the lead up to the release of Napoleon, with historians pointing out several inaccuracies in the film.
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Typically measured, Scott responded by saying: “When I have issues with historians, I ask: ‘Excuse me, mate, were you there? No? Well, shut the fuck up then.’”
When the trailer was criticised by historian Dan Snow, the director retorted by saying: “Get a life.”
As such, you can imagine Scott is going to be displeased when he reads what historians have had to say about his newest movie.
Writing in The Hollywood Reporter, Dr. Shadi Bartsch said of the film: “Total Hollywood bull**t.”
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Bartsch is a classics professor at the University of Chicago, and has degrees from Princeton, Harvard, and UC Berkeley.
She has written multiple books on Rome, as well as a translation of Virgil’s Aeneid.
She pointed to several parts of the film as being inaccurate, such as a scene in the film which displays a naval battle held in a colosseum.
While she does say they had naval battles, she says: ‘I don’t think Romans knew what a shark was”.
Though she also criticised the breed of rhinoceros used in the arena, the truest criticism came in the form of a scene in which a nobleman is shown to be drinking tea in a cafe while reading the newspaper.
Accounting for when Gladiator 2 is set, this is noteworthy, due to it taking place 1,200 years before the invention of the printing press.
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“They did have daily news — Acta Diuma — but it was carved and placed at certain locations.
“You had to go to it, you couldn’t hold it at a cafe. Also, they didn’t have cafes!”
When the news made it to Twitter, responses were split over whether this would effect their view of the film.
One reply said: “My brother in christ, we ain't doing history class today. Does the movie slap, or nah?”
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Another said: “literally who cares”.
A third added: “I can understand having an issue with the newspaper, but the rhino complaint seems a little ridiculous.”
Meanwhile, one fan said: “I mean they kind of have a point where if they're putting in things which were not historically accurate to that time.
“It's going to take you out of the film. Also, with the budget they've got people to do their research right? Or they just don't care.”
Either way, even if it shows Paul Mescal’s new main character using an iPhone, I think most of us will be seated in two weeks’ time when the sequel drops.
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Gladiator 2 will release November 15 in the UK.
Topics: Entertainment, TV and Film, Film, History
Michael Slavin