Russell Crowe revealed in a new video interview with Vanity Fair that he almost bailed on Ridley Scott’s 2000 historical epic “Gladiator” because the original script was so strange. The film would go on to be one of Crowe’s most iconic movies, grossing $503 million worldwide and winning the Academy Awards for best picture and best actor for Crowe.
“I was confident about my abilities as a leading man,” Crowe said about the film. “What I wasn’t confident about with ‘Gladiator’ was the world that was surrounding me. At the core of what we were doing was a great concept but the script, it was rubbish, absolute rubbish. And it had all these sorts of strange sequences.”
Crowe remembered the original script included scenes in which the gladiators rode chariots that had promotions for olive oil and other products on them. While the product placement was meant to evoke real gladiators’ endorsement deals, Crowe was certain such details would throw the audience for a confused loop.
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“That’s all true but it’s just not going to ring right to a modern audience,” Crowe said. “They’re going to go, ‘What the fuck is all this?’ The energy around what we were doing was very fractured. I did think a couple times, ‘Maybe my best option is just to get on a plane and get out of here.’ It was my continued conversations with Ridley that sort of gave me faith.”
Crowe continued, “He said to me at one point in time, ‘Mate, we’re not committing anything to camera that you don’t believe in 100%.’ So when we actually started that film, we had 21 pages of script that we agreed on. A script is usually between 103 or 104 or 110 pages. So we had a long way to go and we basically used up those pages in the first section of the movie. So by the time we got to our second location, which was Morocco, we were sort of catching up.”
“Gladiator” ended up being a box office blockbuster, and now Scott is gearing up to direct a long-awaited sequel. “Normal People” star and “Aftersun” Oscar nominee Paul Mescal is taking over the franchise from Crowe, whose character died at the end of the original “Gladiator.” Mescal is starring in the sequel as Lucius, the son of Lucilla (played by Connie Nielsen in the original film).
“I mean, look, the only thing that I really feel about it is slightly jealous, you know?” Crow recently told Collider about “Gladiator” getting a sequel without him. “Because I was a much younger man, obviously, and it was a huge experience in my life. It’s something that changed my life, really. It changed the way people regarded me and what I do for a living, and, you know, I’ve been very lucky to be involved in lots of big movies, but the legs on that film are incredible.”
“Gladiator 2” already has a November 22, 2024 release date.
