@filmenthusiast: 26 years ago today. Ridley Scott released Gladiator and gave cinema one of the most iconic character introductions ever put on screen. What most people do not know is how close Joaquin Phoenix came to walking away from it entirely. He felt so out of his depth playing Commodus that he offered to pay the producers back for his hotel and travel costs if they would just let him leave. He stayed. And the performance he delivered earned him his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The script was so unfinished when filming began that the crew started shooting with only 32 pages. Commodus's line "Am I not merciful?" was fully ad-libbed by Phoenix on the day. Russell Crowe invented "Strength and Honor" on the spot. The film grossed $466 million worldwide and won five Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actor for Crowe.