Originally Douglas appointed Anthony Mann as the director, but Stanley Kubrick succeeded Anthony Mann as the director of the film a week after filming started. The film cost 12 million U.S. dollars and was filmed for 167 days. More than 10,000 people participated in the filming. The film was shot in the castle of American media tycoon William Radolph Hirst, where the 1972 "Godfather" was also shot. The war scenes in the film were shot in Spain, using thousands of Spanish soldiers.
The original director of the film, Anthony Mann, was relieved of his duties by producer Douglas shortly after the film began. Kubrick was invited by Douglas to take over as the director of the film. Although Kubrick accepted this task, he did not have the right to fully control the production process of the film, nor did he have the right to edit the film according to his own intentions. Stanley Kubrick is also a maverick. During the filming of "Spartacus", although Douglas gave him a certain degree of autonomy, he still felt the shadow cast by Douglas. After the filming, Kubrick refused to admit that "Spartacus" was his work, and vowed that he would never make any movies that could not be the masters.
