Yes, That Was Really Maximus’ Armor in ‘Gladiator II’
There is a moment in “Gladiator II” when Paul Mescal’s gladiator Lucius has decided upon a course of action and, jaw clenched and biceps flexing in steely determination, he is led to a secret shrine, where armor and a sword are hanging from the wall. A placard helpfully identifies them as belonging to Maximus.
That would be Russell Crowe’s character from “Gladiator,” who died in the arena after defeating corrupt Emperor Commodus. Maximus also happens to be Lucius’ father, making the armor sentimental as well as lucky. We know where Maximus’ armor spent the last decade and change — where has Crowe’s costume spent the intervening years?
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“David was able to find one of the originals,” costume designer Janty Yates told IndieWire of fellow costume designer David Crossman, who handled the military costumes. “I imagined [the original costumes had] gone to Dreamworks. You know, It’s like getting rid of your children: You think they’re going to a lovely orphanage, but it’s probably some sandbox in the Mojave Desert.”
Crossman was partially able to find an original because Yates made eight of everything on the original film (which won her an Academy Award). In fact, a prop store was auctioning it off in London when Crossman started looking for it.
“We scanned it, and then Giampaolo [Grassi, the costume master armorer] made a new breastplate to Paul’s size,” Crossman said. The end result is an effective visual tie-in to the original while also establishing Lucius as a warrior worthy of his place in Rome at the film’s end.
As for that shrine: “All I remember about that armor hanging on the wall was how soft the wall was, and we couldn’t actually get it onto the wall,” Crossman said with a laugh. “That’s my memory of that: down the bottom of those stairs just trying to get it onto the wall.”
But Crossman had more pressing concerns than decorating: He had to oversee the many, many military costumes throughout “Gladiator II.” In just 12 weeks.
“We kind of split the order — I don’t want to exaggerate — sort of globally,” he said. “New Zealand made all the Roman soldiers, the standard ones in their armor. Budapest made a lot of the Numidian soldiers and some of the Roman cavalry. FPFX in London made all the Praetorian Guard. Robert Allsopp in London made all the gladiators’ [costumes], so he was able to individualize them a bit more.”
No one in the cast was more individualized than Denzel Washington’s Macrinus, who dazzles in costumes totally unlike anything we’ve seen Washington wear before. “It was really quite a change for Denzel,” Yates said. “There were probably about 60 or 70 pieces. And he wanted everything in four because he always has his stand-in/stunt double, Clay, who’s marvelous. Plus, when he requested this, he didn’t understand the nature of the costume. He was worried about sweat, but these were quite loose garments, so he didn’t have quite so much of a problem as he imagined. But he wore them so well, and I was so pleased with how he looked.”
Macrinus brings a sense of playfulness to the clothes in “Gladiator II,” but it’s the corrupt and decadent twin emperors Geta and Caracalla (Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger) that are truly outrageous. “The emperors were great fun because [the actors] had never seen anything like it,” Yates said. “Their first fittings were fabulous. They were just, ‘Oh my god, you want me to wear this on top? Oh my god, you want me to wear these huge earrings?’ And it was lovely because their jaws were on their chests, and they just took huge pleasure. Ridley’s whole vibe [for the characters] was Johnny Rotten from the Sex Pistols. So you can see that coming through with the red hair and the white face and the gold teeth.”
A project this big encompasses many more people than just Yates and Crossman, of course, and both of them spoke glowingly about the small army of artisans they relied on to get the job done. “In a way there’s less craftspeople, weirdly, even though the industry’s busier,” Crossman said. “We’re losing tailors, jewelers, craftspeople. Giampaolo, I knew from years ago and Janty knew—”
“He’s a genius,” Yates chimes in to add. “Absolute genius.”
“He did all of our principal leatherware,” Crossman said, “and without him, I don’t know who would have done that, to be honest, because I just don’t know who else is capable.”
A Paramount Pictures release, “Gladiator II” is now in theaters.
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