Russell Crowe reveals he was told 'Gladiator' would be a flop

Russell Crowe won the best actor Oscar in 2001 for his outstanding performance in Ridley Scott's historical epic "Gladiator". 

The film, in which he played Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius, also won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

On the 20th anniversary of the film, Russell Crowe has revealed that he was told once he'd finished shooting that the film was seen to be old-fashioned and that it was "out of touch".

"Most people had already sort of written it off from a business point of view. They didn’t know anything about it," he told Variety. "What they heard was that it was a 'sword and sandal' epic, you know, the cliche that they used to call things like that. They thought that was such an out-of-touch step to make."

The actor also recalled how one of his friends in Hollywood expressed concern that the big-budget blockbuster was going to fail at the box office.

"I was talking to him about how difficult the shoot had been because just being honest, it was tricky and it was exhausting and it took everything I had. So I was discussing it in those terms, and he took that as a negative," Crowe explained, noting that he was told that at least he had the critically-acclaimed L.A. Confidential to fall back on.