Russell Crowe, the Academy Award-winning actor best known for his role as Maximus Decimus Meridius in Ridley Scott’s critically acclaimed 2000 epic historical drama film, Gladiator, is not entirely thrilled with the fact that a sequel to the movie is being made, according to new statements that the actor shared during a recent interview with Kyle Meredith. Admitting that he’s “slightly uncomfortable” about the whole thing, Crowe’s latest thoughts on the project come a few months after the first Gladiator 2 footage premiered at CinemaCon, which reportedly left audiences very entertained.
Crowe, 60, said:
- “I’m slightly uncomfortable with the fact they’re making another one — because, of course, [my character is] dead and I have no say in what gets done.”
- “But a couple of the things I’ve heard, I’m like, ‘No, no, no, that’s not in the moral journey of that particular character.'”
- “But I can’t say anything, it’s not my place, I’m six foot under. So we’ll see what that is like.”
- “I reflect back: The age I was when I made that film and all the things that came after it, the doors that particular movie opened for me.”
- “This is just me being purely honest: There’s definitely a tinge of melancholy, a tinge of jealousy. I remember when I had tendons.”
The full interview with Crowe:
A description of some Gladiator 2 footage:
…[Paul] Mescal is revealed to be a gladiator (apparently, he is not playing the nephew of Joaquin Phoenix’s Emperor Commodus, as had been reported). His character is seen fighting murderous monkeys, as well as a soldier on a rhinoceros. At one point, the Colosseum is filled with water for an epic ship battle.