Gladiator Country

The gladiators in Ridley Scott's "Gladiator" fought on Moroccan soil.

Ouarzazate — the desert city between the Atlas and the Sahara — has been Hollywood's backlot since the 1960s. The light is perfect: harsh and golden, convincingly ancient. The labor is skilled and affordable. The Moroccan army provides thousands of extras on command. And the landscape can double for anywhere: Jerusalem, Tibet, Egypt, Rome.

The production built their Colosseum outside Ouarzazate in 1999. A full-scale partial replica, large enough for the combat scenes that would win five Academy Awards. Russell Crowe bled into this dust. Joaquin Phoenix sneered from the imperial box. The crowd roared on cue.

They weren't the first. David Lean shot "Lawrence of Arabia" here in 1962 — the film that put Ouarzazate on Hollywood's map. Since then, the desert has played ancient Rome, medieval Jerusalem, Tibet, Egypt, and Westeros. The Atlas Studios tour shows you crumbling sets from dozens of productions stacked against each other: a Tibetan monastery beside an Egyptian temple beside a Roman fortress.

The economics are simple. Building permits are fast. Terrain is varied — desert, mountains, kasbahs, palm oases within an hour's drive. The light is consistent: 300+ days of sunshine, no clouds to delay shooting. And the Moroccan film commission actively courts productions, offering tax incentives and military support.

"Game of Thrones" built Yunkai and Pentos here. "Kingdom of Heaven" constructed its Jerusalem. "The Mummy" dug its tombs. "Babel" shot its desert sequences. "Prince of Persia," "Body of Lies," "Inception" — the list runs to hundreds of productions.

The irony isn't lost on historians: ancient Rome actually did source from this region. The Barbary lions that died in the Colosseum came from these mountains. But that's a story for another time.

Today, Ouarzazate calls itself "the Hollywood of Africa." The nickname is earned. When a director needs to build an ancient world, they come here — to the same desert that's been playing other places for sixty years.