The Academy Award won by Peter Ustinov for this film (Best Supporting Actor) is the only one awarded to any performance in any film by Stanley Kubrick.
Creative Differences: Cinematographer Russell Metty walked off the set, complaining that Stanley Kubrick was not letting him do his job. Metty was used to directors allowing him to call his own shots with little oversight, while Kubrick was a professional photographer who had shot some of his previous movies by himself. Subsequently, Kubrick did the majority of the cinematography work. Metty complained about this up until the release of the movie and even, at one point, asked to have his name removed from the credits. However, because his name was in the credits, when this movie won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, it was given to Metty, although he actually didn't shoot most of it.
Over half-an-hour of footage was removed from the original cut, notably the "snails and oysters" exchange between Crassus and Antoninus, and some of the more graphic battle scenes. Some of this was restored in the early '90s. It's also alleged that the Battle of Metapontum was filmed but cut from the final version, and that Julius Caesar's subplot (defecting from Gracchus to Crassus) was far more prominent in Kubrick's original cut.
European prints of the film contained a scene in which a nude Jean Simmons bathes in a pond. Stills and lobby cards exist, but the scene has not appeared in any re-issue.
There is a similar sequence in existing copies of the film, when Varinia announces to Spartacus that she is pregnant. Tree branches are used as Scenery Censor for the most part, so all you see in that scene is Simmons' rear.
A scene has been deleted with Gracchus bribing voters.
Gay Panic: The original version included a scene where Crassus attempts to seduce Antoninus. The Production Code Administration and the Legion of Decency both objected. At one point Geoffrey Shurlock, representing the censors, suggested it would help if the reference in the scene to a preference for oysters or snails was changed to truffles and artichokes. In the end the scene was cut, but it was put back in for the 1991 restoration.
Missing Episode: The film premiered at 202 minutes. However, the prints from the premiere were lost in the 1970s when Universal threw out all the film's tracks, outtakes, additional prints etc. The Criterion Collection has 4 minutes of lost scenes involving the Gracchus subplot:
After the first senatorial meeting scene, Gracchus and Caesar walk around the market discussing the dirty tactic of fishing votes (shown in production-still form).
Gracchus commits suicide by slitting his wrist in the bathtub. This occurred immediately after he closes the curtain near the end of the film. Only the audio track was found in the studio vault.
Never Work with Children or Animals: Peter Ustinov told a hilarious anecdote on Parkinson about filming a scene with Laurence Olivier on horseback. During one take, Olivier's horse farted, prompting him to quip, "Next time, could you be quicker on your yes, dear boy?"
On-Set Injury: During the scene where Spartacus drowns Marcellus in a cauldron of soup, Kirk Douglas accidentally broke Charles McGraw's jaw. His jaw struck the rim of the pot, sustaining a fracture but he managed to continue the scene nonetheless.
The credited screenwriter, Dalton Trumbo, was blacklisted from Hollywood for refusing to name names during the Red Scare. There's even a line where Crassus proclaims "Lists of the disloyal are being compiled," making this explicit.
The writer of the original novel, Howard Fast, was also on the blacklist. More than that, making a film about Spartacus was itself highly radical since he had long been a hero for leftists and Karl Marx himself considered Spartacus his all-time favorite hero. Using an expensive Epic Movie to make what is essentially a leftist epic was pretty subversive for that era. Gossip columnist and blacklist promoter Hedda Hopper commented, "The story was sold to Universal from a book written by a commie and the screen script was written by a commie, so don't go to see it." John F. Kennedy famously crossed an American Legion picket line to see the film.
Woody Strode's black Gladiator sparing the life of Spartacus and then hurling his trident at Crassus was seen by later critics as a reflection of the Civil Rights Movement which was ongoing at the time.
Spared by the Cut: Gracchus originally committed suicide by slitting his wrists in the bath. This was filmed, but cut and lost; however, it's still heavily implied by Batiatus seeming to sense Gracchus' intentions by inviting him to escape with him and Varinia, and Gracchus selecting a 'prettier' knife and heading to his bath.
Troubled Production: Things started smoothly enough. Kirk Douglas purchased the rights to Howard Fast's novel for just $100, and cast most of the key roles without difficulty. But problems began when shooting started.
The original director, Anthony Mann, shot some early scenes with Peter Ustinov but dropped out after a few days. Douglas offered David Lean, Joseph L. Mankiewicz and others the chance to direct; he even considered letting Olivier take over direction. All declined. Then Douglas remembered Stanley Kubrick, whom he'd worked with on Paths of Glory, and offered him the job. Ominously, Kubrick had just dropped out of One-Eyed Jacks, another film with a temperamental producer-star (Marlon Brando).
Though Douglas and Kubrick had collaborated amicably on Paths, Spartacus proved another story. Kubrick's notoriously prickly, perfectionist personality led to endless rows with Douglas, arguing over script content, editing, the staging of scenes and even Kubrick's wardrobe. When Douglas asked Kubrick his opinion of the "I Am Spartacus" scene, Kubrick (in front of cast and crew) called it "a stupid idea." Douglas promptly chewed the director out. When Kubrick removed close-ups of Spartacus's crucifixion during the finale, Douglas (by his own account) grew so angry he attacked Kubrick with a folding chair. Kubrick generally disagreed with the optimistic heroic portrayal of a slave uprising and wanted to include more divisions and complications in the Revolt which he felt would make it ambiguous, whereas Douglas and Trumbo felt that doing so, would make Slave Liberation look like a bad thing at least in the context of the film they were making.
Douglas and Kubrick weren't the only ones feuding on set. Laurence Olivier and Charles Laughton, longtime rivals, were barely on speaking terms; Olivier actually refused to film a key scene between them unless Laughton left the set. Laughton's prima donna behavior aggravated everyone, storming off the set and threatening to sue Douglas for trimming his part. Olivier was distracted by his dissolving marriage with Vivien Leigh and exasperated Douglas by insisting that he play Spartacus. And both Laughton and Peter Ustinov disliked Dalton Trumbo's script, rewriting scenes on set or else ad-libbing dialogue. Only Jean Simmons avoided the squabbling, partly because she missed six weeks of shooting after an emergency surgery. In addition, Douglas caught the flu and Tony Curtis injured his Achilles tendon playing tennis.
After filming ran way too long and extremely over budget, Kubrick delivered a disastrous rough cut - a formless mess with little coherent story. Hoping to salvage the picture, Kubrick insisted on filming Spartacus's final battle with Crassus (at this point, the movie only showed its aftermath). Universal reluctantly relocated to Spain (having previously shot in Hollywood and Death Valley) for an expensive battle employing thousands of Spanish soldiers as extras. Along with other last-minute reshoots, this swelled the budget to a then-staggering $11,000,000.
During post-production, Douglas received detailed memos from Universal Studios and Production Code offices demanding heavy cuts. Having received the instruction "Any implication that Crassus is a sex pervert is unacceptable," the producers excised the notorious "snails and oysters" scene between Olivier and Curtis. More seriously, Universal trimmed several action scenes, along with political content that was deemed subversive. Apparently the studio feared that if Spartacus had a chance of winning, viewers would perceive the film as Communist! Nearly 30 minutes were cut, most of which was restored to the 1991 re-release.
Douglas hired blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo to write the script, under his alias Sam Jackson. At some point during production, journalist Hedda Hopper discovered the identity of "Jackson" and demanded Douglas fire the screenwriter. In this case, Douglas stood his ground; he not only retained Trumbo but credited him in the finished film, hence breaking the Hollywood blacklist. Douglas's decision was vindicated as Spartacus became a smash hit.
While having his name listed as the Director of a famous hit movie certainly helped his career, Kubrick professed dislike for the film itself. And after suffering through the multiple clashes with both actors and studio on this film, Kubrick insisted on full creative control, in writing, for his subsequent films.
Kirk Douglas, as producer of the film, fired the original director, Anthony Mann (who later made El Cid and The Fall of the Roman Empire) and brought in relative newcomer Stanley Kubrick. Guess who wore the pants on set? Indeed, after making Spartacus, Kubrick shifted to England and made all his remaining films there under highly controlled conditions feeling that he would never truly be free working within the Hollywood studio system.
Kubrick wasn't the only one who had issues with Douglas. Dalton Trumbo's script was supposed to be an allegory of the Red Scare, but Douglas wanted it to be an allegory of the liberation of Israel. Their differing views on how the subject should be portrayed also led to some tension.
The slaves' final battle was originally to be intercut with Varinia giving birth to her child, to give a contrast of destruction and creation. This idea was scrapped for running time purposes.
Dalton Trumbo originally wanted Universal to get Orson Welles to play the pirate, Tigranes Levantus.
David Lean was considered to direct, but declined. Laurence Olivier was then asked to direct, but he had relinquished the directing assignment, as he felt the dual role of actor and director would prove to be too demanding.
Written by Cast Member: Charles Laughton hated the Dalton Trumbo-written dialogue he was initially given, so Peter Ustinov rewrote all of the scenes featuring Batiatus and Gracchus together, which placated Laughton enough to complete his portion of the film.
