Ridley Scott opens up about resurrected Russell Crowe's character in 'Gladiator 2'

Ridley Scott has dished out his plans related to cast Russell Crowe, who won the Oscar for his performance in Gladiator 2000.

Recently in an interview with People, the English film director candidly shared the different story idea for Gladiator 2.

At the time, he began by saying, “Russell and I had a go at it around 18 years ago.”

Moreover, Scott recalled when they were writing the script for the movie sequel and Crowe had shared the idea to resurrected Maximus Decimus Meridius character through a porter.

“I had Nick Cave writing the script and I kept saying [to Russell], ‘But you’re dead.’ And he said, ‘I know I’m dead. And I want to come back from the dead,'” he continued.

“The only way of doing it was to go to another battle and through a dying warrior,” the Martian director added. “He comes back into the spirit of the warrior. So that’s his portal.”

For those unversed, Russell Crowe portrayed the role of Maximus, who was taking revenge for his family’s murder from the emperor. After killing Roman Emperor Commodus, he also died from the wound in his lungs at the end of the historical epic movie.

However, he reflected upon when Crowe rejected his own created portal idea by saying, “He said, ‘So that’s no f****** good, is it?’”

Later, he revealed that Crowe realised that it would require casting a new star to play the role and also told the publication, “It didn’t really work.”

Ridley Scott’s directorial movie Gladiator 2 was released on November 15, 2024.