Spartacus/Trivia

• At the time a reporter asked Peter Ustinov's young daughter what he did for a living. She replied "Spartacus!"
  • Ustinov not only played Batiatus, the owner of the gladitorial school from which Spartacus begins his slave revolt, he completely re-wrote all of Charles Laughton's scenes in the film after the latter threatened to quit the film over his displeasure with the script -- or the weather -- or the time of day (Laughton was about as unpredictable and moody as they come).
  • The credited screenwriter, Dalton Trumbo, failed to mention these re-writes when praise for the script, particularly the witty scenes between Ustinov and Laughton, began pouring in. In his defense, he had spent some 10 years keeping the wolf from the door in various demeaning ways after being blacklisted in Hollywood and probably didn't want to share credit for his first big screenwriting assignment after all that time.
• A re-release in 1967 cut a lot of the objectionable material, including a dialogue Crassus has with his servant about his liking both oysters and snails. It's especially noteworthy because the audio track for this scene was lost in the 1970s. When Spartacus was restored in 1991 the scene was recreated: Tony Curtis re-dubbed his lines at the age of 66. Laurence Olivier was dead, but his lines were dubbed by Anthony Hopkins.
• Hey, It's That Guy!: Draba, the Black Best Friend, is played by Woody Strode. He was better known as Draba than for anything else he did, but before he became an actor he broke the color line in the NFL in 1946.
• Reality Subtext: The credited screenwriter, Dalton Trumbo, was blacklisted from Hollywood for refusing to name names during the Red Scare.
  • Not just the screenwriter. The writer of the original novel was also on the blacklist.
• Wag the Director: Kirk Douglas, as producer of the film, fired the original director, and brought in relative newcomer Stanley Kubrick. Guess who wore the pants on set?