Gladiator II lost the plot, according to Russell Crowe.
Crowe, who won an Oscar for his role as Maximus in 2000’s Gladiator, is not a fan of the 2024 follow-up. “I think the recent sequel that, you know, we don’t have to name out loud, is a really unfortunate example of even the people in that engine room not actually understanding what made the first one special,” he said in an interview with Triple J. “It wasn’t the pomp. It wasn’t the circumstance. It wasn’t the action. It was the moral core.”
Gladiator II starred Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn, and Connie Nielsen. In the second installment of the Ridley Scott films, Maximus is revealed to have had an affair. The plot point is a problematic one for Crowe, who said he insisted that the character be shown as dedicated to his wife, considering her murder is his primary motivation in the film. “The thing is, there was a daily fight on that set. It was a daily fight to keep that moral core of the character,” Crowe explained.
“The amount of times they suggested sex scenes and stuff like that for Maximus, it’s like you’re taking away his power,” Crowe continued. “So you’re saying at the same time he had this relationship with his wife, he was f---ing this other girl? What are you talking about? It’s crazy.”
Scott eventually got his way in the sequel, however, in which Crowe had no involvement.
The Oscar-winner said his note about the moral compass of the story is why the movie was, in his opinion, a disappointment. The Daily Beast has reached out to a representative for Ridley Scott for comment.
Gladiator II became one of the highest-grossing R-rated films ever after its release last November, and earned a 70 percent Rotten Tomatoes score.
In 2023, Crowe declared, “They should be f---ing paying me for the amount of questions I am asked about a film I am not even in,” after repeatedly fielding questions about the then-upcoming sequel. “It has nothing to do with me. In that world, I am dead. Six feet under,” he continued.
As his role in Gladiator was a pivotal one for his career, earning Crowe his only Oscar thus far, he admitted then to having some complicated feelings about the sequel.
“I do admit to a certain tinge of jealousy,” he said at the time, “because it reminds me of when I was younger and what it meant for me, in my life.”
