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"My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legion, loyal servant to the true Emperor Marcus Aurelius". So said the character portrayed by the actor Russell Crowe. Interestingly, while some of the characters, places and events in the movie Gladiator are true (only to a certain degree thanks to the director's artistic liscense), there was no Felix Legion, the name being purely fictitious. However, there was in the Roman Army, the Legio IV Flavia Felix (Vespasian's Fortunate or "Flavian Fortunate" ). In these first years of the legion's existence, Legio IV Flavia received the title Felix, the title probably commemorating a victory, perhaps over the Dacians. The Fourth Flavian legion played an important role in Marcus Aurelius' campaigns against the tribes across the Danube, which were launched in 165 AD. The legion in 102 - 106 AD fought in Trajan's Dacian campaigns. In 138 - 161 AD during the reign of Antoninus Pius, subunits were sent to Mauretania to fight against the Moors and in 166 - 180 AD, it was involved in Marcus Aurelius' Marcommanic wars. The General and the Movie The opening battle scene pits General Maximus Meridius (Russell) against the Germans during fighting by the River Danube. Maximus, a Spaniard who has never actually seen Rome, is an undefeated and well respected commander in the Roman Army. He is also a trusted friend and adviser to the ailing Emperor Marcus Aurelius. DID YOU KNOW? In the original script, Maximus was called Narcissus Meridas. On 31 December AD 192, in a back-up plan to assassinate the Emperor Commodus, an athlete called Narcissus, who was employed as Commodus' wrestling partner, overpowered and strangled Commodus in his bed on the same night. Russell suffered numerous injuries while filming. Among them, he cracked a bone in his foot, fractured a hip, and both bicep tendons popped out (luckily, not at the same time). He's said one of the scariest events occurred while filming the opening battle sequence. The horse he was riding got a little too close to the fire, then started going backwards down the hill. The animal eventually hit a few trees, and one branch went through one of Russell's cheeks. You can see the real wound early in the film. . And... what happened to the dog? Maximus' dog, seen in the opening scene of the movie was to have been filmed killed by the soldiers sent to arrest Maximus. It was deemed too gory and the scene was deleted. |
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General Maximus Demetrius Meridius Redux 2005
Legio Felix, AD 180 Germania
This project was originally completed in late 2001, new headsculpt incorporated in 2005
General Maximus in battle uniform but without his Oscar 2001 trophy.
2001: I just had to do this figure after seeing the movie Gladiator. But because of the dearth of kitbashing possibilities, I felt like I was literally stepping into the unknown.
There were so many scratchbuild factors to be considered: a headsculpt, the intricate late 1st Century Roman armor and its embellishments, leather protection gear and gladius (Roman sword) and scabbard.
(2005: I have never been satisfied with this headsculpt created in 2001 and would rather offer this as a caricature, capturing the essence of the character portrayed. For this redux version (2005), I resisted the temptation to reshape the face but finally gave in! The 2005 headsculpt, is sculpted entirely out of air-dry modelling clay rather than Sculpy. The disadvantage of using this medium is the difficulty in getting really defined features, especially on such a small scale, however the advantage (to me at least) is the fact that the sculpt may be worked in stages. This means corrections may be done by carving or sanding away the bothersome bits and new elements meant to recorrect these be added. The headsculpt was basically done in four parts, the final part being the neck post.}
In the opening sequence of the movie, Russell Crowe as General Maximus was seen wearing his battle uniform. This was a magnificent outfit consisting of a wine or burgundy colored short Roman gown and brownish orange colored pants. I had to sew the gown 3 times, the first time working with available red colored fabric and then dyeing (3 dyeing sessions!) to get a burgundy color. The color was there but not as deep as I wanted it to be. Anxious to get going, I left it in my microwave oven to quick dry but over-estimated on the drying time. The result was a very crisp fabric which tore at right angles when stressed. That got me working on a second tunic (3 dyeing sessions again, would you believe!) which I let dry at room temperature! However, the next day I happened to chance upon a very expensive fine cotton material in the exact deep burgendy color I was looking for - so that meant sewing up gown number 3!
Over the short gown is worn a leather tunic with serrated skirting for the arms and lower torso. I made this out of leather with the ornamentation done out of embossed paper.
A leather covered bronze cuirass is then worn over the leather tunic, secured by leather strappings. In reality, the cuirass was supposed to be made out of bronze, then perhaps covered with leather. But in the movie, it was made out of foam and covered in leather. I soaked leather and draped it over an ActionMan torso, carefully binding it and left it to dry. It took the form very nicely and although you can't see it because of the acrylic paint embellishments, the abs and even nipples came out very well! Front and back leather cuirass were made and then painted in an old gold color. A burgendy colored band signifying authority and rank is attached around the chest.
Next, segmented shoulder armor made out of sheet metal were carefully cut up, then attached over the shoulders. Metal wrist bands or gauntlets and leg greaves with leather strappings and buckles were also customized and fitted on the figure. These elements, such as the gold and silver colour trimmings were reworked in 2005, with added embellishments. A cloak was then sewn and strapped on and to top it all off, a wolf pelt was secured and draped over the shoulders. The pelt was made out of long haired plush or fake fur and trimmed to effect.
The Roman sword or gladius was normally worn on the left side for ranking officers, the common legionary wearing it on the right (Crowe's sword is the longer blade cavalry version). This was made out of balsa wood and sculpy with the scabbard being made out of leather. The boots were taken from 21st Century Spetznez.