 His other screenplays include "King Arthur" (2004), "Amistad" (1997), and "Jumpin’ Jack Flash" (1986).Franzoni's script for "Gladiator" was a revival of the sword-and-sandal genre, using characters very different from the original and drawing upon available historic and archaeological sources.He started to write the story in the 1970s, after reading a book about Roman gladiatorial games.