Ridley Scott recalls asking the King of Morocco for help in securing equipment and crew for his 2001 war movie. The genre-hopping Scott returned to the Roman Empire in 2024, unleashing the long-awaited sequel Gladiator II. A lavish spectacle set 16 years after the events of the original Gladiator, the film has thus far grossed $458 million worldwide.

Returning to the world of Gladiator was indeed an interesting move for Scott, who has earned a reputation as a filmmaker capable of tackling just about any genre and period. The director has become known for science fiction, thanks to movies like Alien, Blade Runner and The Martian. He’s also become a master of the historical epic, thanks to Kingdom of Heaven, The Last Duel, Napoleon and, of course, the two Gladiator movies.

Scott Needed The King Of Morocco’s Help In Making His 2001 War Movie Black Hawk Down

The Pentagon Helped Out Too

Gladiator II sees Scott staging epic period war action, but the director has also tackled modern-day military matters, as in 2001’s Black Hawk Down, a pulse-pounding depiction of the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu. Set in Somalia but sH๏τ in Morocco, the real-life action film shows what happens when a Black Hawk helicopter crew survives a crash-landing in the middle of a teeming city, only to find themselves in a fight for their lives against heavily armed militia soldiers.

Black Hawk Down was a big hit thanks in part to its harrowing combat scenes and use of real military hardware, but the movie would not have been as impactful had the King of Morocco not helped Scott in securing everything he needed to get the movie made. Scott recalled recently how the monarch ᴀssisted him in convincing the Pentagon to send real army helicopters, and Army Rangers, overseas for filming (via GQ):

I had to get the King of Morocco … So now on Black Hawk, I can say “I want to bring in four Black Hawks and four Night Birds. But to do that, I’ve got to bring 125 rangers.” You know what a ranger is. It’s heavy duty, real thing. Because they’ll be the insurance on the Black Hawk and I can’t have my actors fast-roping down, that’s got to be a ranger because if somebody falls, I’m in trouble.

And he says, “I’ll do that, but you have to get the Pentagon to write me a note inviting us to send to me because I welcome the American army and their devices.” So he did that. He wrote in to the Pentagon, the Pentagon goes, “Okay, we’re on.” So he sent in four Black Hawks, four Night Birds, and 2,505 rangers.

Our Take On The King Of Morocco Helping Scott Make Black Hawk Down

It Helps To Have Friends In High Places

It’s nothing new for real-life military equipment and personnel to be used in the making of war movies. Francis Ford Coppola famously enlisted the aid of the Philippine army in getting helicopters for his grandiose war film Apocalypse Now, while the U.S. Navy was a great help in making both Top Gun and its sequel Top Gun: Maverick. Having real military involvement can indeed help a movie achieve greater realism, but the trade-off sometimes is having to bow to the military’s wishes in how their people and activities are depicted, a compromise that can lead to accusations of propagandizing.

Black Hawk Down has been criticized for historical inaccuracy, but that itself is nothing new for Scott, whose films often fudge facts for the sake of drama. When it came to his 2001 war movie, Scott may have reworked history to some degree, but he went for maximum realism in terms of hardware, and called in a favor at the highest level in order to pull it off. The story illustrates not only Scott’s powers of persuasion, but shows how far he’s willing to go to get a movie made.

Source: GQ