Gladiator II (2024)

In the scene where the actor works on his garden where we see chickens, geese in cages, a donkey and a couple goats in the background. The wranglers brought the animals to always set and had individual handlers in wardrobe with them. All the animals were provided shade and water between takes. Subsequently, when the actor hears explosions and runs to edge of garden and sees a coliseum with a goat in foreground, wranglers brought animals to foreground to their mark.

In the flashback where we see the boy running into a house where there’s a dog in the background, then gets on horse outside and gallops off, the trainer placed treats on the carpet to keep the dog on his mark. The boy never mounted or rode horse, that was a stunt double.

In the scene where the soldiers return to Rome in horse drawn chariots with a crowd of people cheering them on, the horses have temporarily stables on location with hay and water tanks. The horses were ridden from the stables by the riders in wardrobe The horses were fed & watered at the stables where they were tacked up in riding gear. On action, the chariots were ridden down the street between cheering crowd.

In the scene where the two emperors greet the general back from battle, one of the actors has a capuchin monkey on his shoulder. The actor and the monkey rehearsed together for weeks before shooting the scene. Prior to shooting the scene, the wrangler placed the monkey on the actor’s shoulder. After they yelled cut, the wrangler took monkey off man’s shoulder and given rewards. They repeat this same procedure every time the monkey works with the actor through the shoot.

In the scene where the horse drawn wagons ride through village with actors in cages in the back, there were ten cart horses being ridden through the set. On action, the horses hitched to prisoner wagons traveled down the hill into the arena area as a wide shot seeing the sheep being herded and donkeys & mules walking short distances by the market area. All the animals were overseen by their wranglers. The donkeys, sheep, goats, dogs mules and horses have individual handlers in wardrobe with them at all times.

In the scene where the gladiators battle baboons in the arena, all the baboons were created by CGI. In the audience, we see an audience member watching with a snake wrapped around his shoulder, the wrangler placed the snake on actor’s shoulder and stood off camera.

In the scene where we see an actress looking at koi fish in a pond and we see a dog sitting in corner, prior to shooting, the dogs arrived at the location with their owner. The fish (carp) were moved from the holding tank next to the set to the pond on set by the handler and his team.
After this scene the fish are removed to a covered tank in an adjoining room where it’s cool, quiet & dark so the fish can relax.

In the scene where the actor arrives at party in horse drawn carriage, the horses were prepped for the scene, and given shade and water prior to shooting.

In the gateway to Rome, we see men in cages being transported by horse drawn wagons, prior to filming were mounted by costumed riders and ridden to set and placed on marks behind and to the side of tracking vehicle. The horses by the side of the vehicle were safely distanced from the vehicle. As they enter city, we see people in goats, donkeys and a an elephant, which is created by CGI.

In the scene where the gladiator fights soldier on rhinoceros, the rhinoceros was created by CGI.

In the scene where the actress places a boy on horseback and the horse gallops off, the horse was held by a groom in costume.

There are many scenes with actors arriving at various buildings on horse drawn wagons or chariots, we covered all of it, wranglers were always on set and horses were always provided water and shade and food between takes.

In the scene where the actor talks to the emperor and the monkey climbs under the table, previous setups were filmed using an animatronic monkey. There was a meeting prior to shooting the scene to explain how crew should behave around monkeys. The monkey’s wrangler brought the monkey to set and placed it on actor’s shoulder. The wrangler was always behind the camera, cuing the monkey. In order to get the monkey to climb under the table, the wrangler placed food under the table and cued monkey to get it.

When the actor rides horse out of Rome and stops before sheep farmer and sheep, sheep were herded by their handlers to set and secured in a secure pen in a corner of a field. On action, the horse trainer rode horse at a gallop and stopped before sheep wrangler and his sheep.