 Writer David Franzoni (II) (qv) started developing the story in  the 1970s when he read "Those Who Are About To Die," a history of  the Roman games by Daniel P. Mannix (qv); Franzoni later discussed  the idea with Steven Spielberg (I) (qv) during their work on  _Amistad (1997)_ (qv), saying that he envisioned Commodus as being  something like Ted Turner (I) (qv) in the way he combined politics  and entertainment to establish a base of influence.