Gladiator director tells fans not to visit Malta on holiday

Updated 5:53pm

The director of the Gladiator movies told an audience of people who had just watched the film not to visit Malta.

World-famous director Sir Ridley Scott, whose latest sword-and-sandal epic got at least €47 million in Maltese taxpayer money for shooting in Malta, was speaking to fellow film-maker Christopher Nolan during a short interview earlier this month in front of an audience that had watched the new Gladiator film.

When Nolan asked him about returning to Malta to shoot Gladiator, Scott hailed the island’s architecture but was very blunt about returning as a tourist.

“Malta is a treasure trove of architecture. I wouldn’t advise going there on holiday,” he tells Nolan, before turning half-jokingly to the audience to make sure there were no Maltese people present.

“I would not go back there on holiday,” he said, as the audience giggled.

“But the architecture goes from medieval right through to renaissance, and when it’s good, it’s spectacular.”

He then went on to explain that the production decided to build most of the architecture seen in the film, instead of shooting against a green screen, as it was cheaper.

Part edited out in clips uploaded to Facebook

Malta’s Film Commissioner, Johann Grech, uploaded the clip to Facebook but edited out the bit where Scott tells fans not to visit Malta on holiday and only published the parts where the famous director is seen hailing Malta’s architecture.

This is the edited clip uploaded to Grech’s Facebook page:

The Gladiator Facebook page also uploaded the same clip to social media and edited that bit out.

This is the edited clip uploaded on the official Gladiator Movie page:

But the full, 23-minute, unedited interview was uploaded on Paramount Pictures’ YouTube channel and has, at the time of writing, over 80,000 views.

Scott’s film received record taxpayer cash

Maltese taxpayers are slated to pay the movie’s production house a record €47 million for shooting in Malta, significantly more than they paid for any other film or television production in history.

The government committed to giving the money as part of a generous cash-back scheme that promises production houses up to 40 per cent rebate if they film in Malta. 

Gladiator‘s rebate broke the record for the biggest state aid cinema in the European Union.

Over and above that, another of Ridley Scott’s films – the Napoleon biopic – got almost €13 million for just three weeks of filming in Malta.

The government and the Malta Film Commission steadfastly defend the cash-back scheme, saying it bolsters the film industry by enticing major Hollywood productions to Malta, injecting millions into the local economy, and inspiring people who watch the movies to visit Malta on vacation.

Scott had also directed the first Gladiator film, which was also famously filmed in Malta and released worldwide in 2000, instantly becoming a blockbuster.

‘Humiliated Grech: Step down immediately’

Reacting to the news, Shadow Culture Minister Julie Zahra said Grech should “step down immediately” while describing him as having been “humiliated” by the film director.  

Writing on Facebook, she said the film commissioner had “ended up being attacked by the one who benefited the most from these cash rebates”. 

Describing Grech’s editing of the clip showing Scott speaking as “censorship” and “manipulation… by using only what suited him”, she said his position was “no longer tenable because he has lost all credibility.” 

Blasting the film director as a “bully” using public funds to promote himself, Zahra said Malta’s film community “deserves much better”, while also making reference to Grech’s increased salary of €150,000 per year.

‘Unfortunate lack of respect’

In a Facebook comment addressed to Scott, Nationalist MP and former Opposition leader Adrian Delia berated the film director, pointedly writing that while Scott had “mesmerized millions” with his films, “sadly however seems you have not managed to learn respect.”

Pointing to the Maltese as having “welcomed you warmly, shared and lent their history and culture and showered you with millions to credit to your tax bill”, Delia called the director’s charged lack of respect “unfortunate.”

“You advised the world not to visit us as tourists. Well, allow me to advise you not to visit at all. Not to screen your movies, not to plunder our hard-earned tax coffers and certainly not to spit disrespect in our faces,” Delia wrote.