In 1958, the American writer, journalist and photographer Daniel P. Mannix published his work Those About to Die, a compendium of historical research about the gladiators of the Roman Empire that he carried out over more than a decade. In it, real events were interspersed with fictional stories, but always taking into account the verisimilitude with which these public events took place in the arena of the Colosseum.
As great lover of animals and circus events, Since Mannix also worked as a magician and animal trainer during his life, the American put all this into a book with bloody passages that stuck in the mind of those who read it, among them David Franzoni.
It was the late 90s when Franzoni enjoyed this reading and He was inspired by her to create the script for Gladiator along with John Logan and William Nicholson. Despite this, it is fair to point out that they are very different stories and even the original script of the film directed by Ridley Scott caused the suspicion of its own protagonist, actor Russell Crowe, who stepped into the shoes of Máximo Decimus Meridio.
Russell Crowe’s anger with the ‘Gladiator’ script
“Gladiator “It was a unique experience because the script they had was very bad… it was simply very bad”the Australian pointed out at the time in an interview with Jimmy Fallon (via The Hollywood Reporter). “The producer didn’t know that I had been able to get a copy, but what he told me was: ‘I don’t want to send you the text because you wouldn’t respond to me. But I want you to meet Ridley Scott. And I want you to think about this: this is the year 180 after Christ. You are a Roman general. And you are going to be directed by Ridley Scott,” he added.
“We had 21 pages when we started shooting. A normal script has about 110. It’s the dumbest way to make a movie. What a bullet we dodged,” Crowe would later acknowledge about a writing process in which he ended up participating to create the dialogues, demonstrating that The spirit of Mannix’s work was evident, but its capital plot was not so evident..
The American author’s book would be reissued in 2001 under the nickname The Way of the Gladiator, taking advantage of the success of the film starring Joaquin Phoenix and Russell Crowe, as well as the five Oscars it won in the 73rd edition. A new review that did not hesitate to link the book and the film, mentioning that the author Martin M. Winkler recorded this inspiration in his work Gladiator: Film and History.
Manixx’s work is still present in film and television
This same book is now the basis of the homonymous series directed and produced by Roland Emmerichfilmmaker behind godzilla, Independence Day, The Patriot either Tomorrow. Those About to Die It is a fiction starring Anthony Hopkins in the role of Emperor Vespasian, who promises to be much more faithful to Mannix’s story than Gladiator.
The versatility of Mannix’s literary creation would lead him to address numerous themes in his career, including more than twenty stories about animals aimed at both adults and children. In his biography he would also have a book on the life of the occultist and poet Aleister Crowley, another on the Atlantic slave trade for gladiator games or even another about his father as a participant in the Spanish-American War of 1898, among many other writings and essays.
Your novel The fox and the hound (1967) made Walt Disney interested in the author, adapting the plot later into the film Tod and Tobywhile his work African Bush Adventures (1954) served for the construction of the film The Kilimanjaro Killers, directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Robert Taylor. Mannix would also take his first steps in directing through short films Universal Color Parade: Parrot Jungle and King of the Skythe latter based on his 1953 book of the same name.
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