thumbs up

Ridley Scott took one look at Jean-Léon Gérôme’s painting, Pollice Verso, and decided to direct Gladiator.

“Whatever the script is, we’ll get it right. I’m doing this movie.”

Jean-Léon Gérôme, Pollice Verso (1872). Phoenix Art Museum.

It’s Latin for “with a turned thumb,” by the way.