Ridley Scott raves about 'Gladiator 2': 'Best work ever'

Ridley Scott is known for his path-breaking movies, and to name his best work ever: he has given the crown to Gladiator 2.

During an interview with Empire, the noted filmmaker gushed about the forthcoming sequel, "It's the best thing I've ever made," adding, "Though [I have] made several other great movies."

The original period drama was a mega-hit when it was first released and was in line with the Oscar-nominated director's liking to portray history.

"I love doing period films. I love the research. I love to create sort of smells of the period," the 86-year-old opened up about what caught his attention to Gladiator.

"I think what we did with the first Gladiator…I don't like being critical of other things that have happened before, but I wasn't the biggest fan of Hollywood Roman epics, honestly."

He continued, "They felt artificial and so, when I was asked to consider a script, the script was not very good. But the person who gave it to me said, I want to show you one thing, and he picked up an illustration, this is true, it's called For Those About to Die by Gérôme."

"He holds it up. It's a picture of this big painting of the Coliseum, and in the corner there is this guy, about to tuna fork this poor bastard. He's got this thing in his neck, and he's looking up for permission to kill," Ridley told Deadline in 2021. 

"I went, bloody hell, that's never been done properly before. Never. I said, I'll do it. He said you will? I said yes. Did you want to read the script? I said no, and we went off and hit the ground running around the table, and evolved the new material."