Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1531774
the horizon to complete the illusion. James Vooght, the film's picture vehicle coordinator, assembled a magnificent slave caravan of assorted wagons filled with human captives that leads the viewer into the scene. After leaving Morocco, the production headed to Malta and Fort Ricasoli which had been the site of our original Rome set for Gladiator and included all the major sets as we had done before, the Colosseum with its undercroft, the Roman Forum, the Via Sacra and the Imperial Palace. We even had a similar repertoire of monumental statuary that appeared originally but now we needed many more of them and somewhat larger in size. These were achieved with a variety of techniques, either by hand carving in clay or medium density foam, or by sculpting a smaller scale maquette and then scanning it digitally and having it CNC carved and then sharpened by hand to bring out the details. The total number and scale of the statuary was so large that some were done locally in Malta, others came from overseas, including subcontractors in the UK, Italy and Croatia to meet the shooting schedule. Our brilliant sculptors, painters and plasterers came from as many different countries, including Italy, Spain, Malta and the UK. We even had the giant 10-meter mobile foot that moved around the set on hidden wheels in the base making it easier and faster to position to camera. To accommodate a much bigger world described in the new script, we enlarged the extent and scale of all the sets and ended up using every corner of the entire site, but at the same time tried to retain the style and detail of the original film that had worked so well. The production started immediately with the biggest challenge of all—the Colosseum. We sited it exactly where it had been the first time around, which was confirmed by John Mathieson to be the best position in relation to the movement of the sun during the scheduled dates for shooting. This became a case of "the best laid plans" a bit further down A. 25-FOOT-HIGH AUGUSTUS CAESAR STATUE. WORKING DRAWING. B. AUGUSTUS CAESAR STATUE. WORK IN PROGRESS ON MALTA. C. VIA SACRA. CAESAR AUGUSTUS STATUE BEING SET TO CAMERA. SET PHOTO. D. COLOSSEUM WITH MARKET SQUARE. PRODUCTION STILL. A C B D