Russell Crowe Didn’t Hold Back About The Gladiator Sequel

Are you not entertained? If you’re Russell Crowe watching “Gladiator II,” the answer is probably no. While speaking at the Taormina Film Festival (via Deadline), the actor didn’t hold back when assessing why the Ridley Scott-directed follow-up underperformed at the global box office. In Crowe’s words:

“When you apply how much of a change there’s been on the value of a dollar, they failed. And they failed because they didn’t understand why [the original movie] was successful — it was successful because it had a moral core.”

“Gladiator II” needed to make a lot of money to become a box office hit, but it fell short of expectations. The Ridley Scott-directed sequel only made $462 million worldwide on the back of a $250 million production budget that reportedly ballooned to $310 million. The reviews were mostly positive, with supporters praising the film’s heightened qualities. Still, the original flick is an emotional epic that won the Oscar for Best Picture. The sequel, as fun as it is, doesn’t come close to matching the original’s power.

This isn’t the first time Crowe has shared his views on why “Gladiator II” failed. The actor believes that the sequel is all action and no heart — a fault that, in his eyes, can be attributed to the film being made by people who don’t understand why “Gladiator” is so great. Perhaps it would have been better if the filmmakers rolled with Crowe’s desired sequel, which involved a fantastical element.

Russell Crowe’s character dies in the first “Gladiator” movie, but the actor was still willing to return for a sequel anyway. In an interview with People, Ridley Scott revealed that Crowe wanted Maximus to be resurrected, allowing him to return to Earth:

“Russell and I had a go at it around 18 years ago. 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.'”

Like Crowe, many of us wish that Maximus came back from the dead and Nick Cave’s “Gladiator II” script got adapted. The plot would have seen Maximus return to assassinate a Christ-like figure on behalf of the gods, only to learn that the man is his son. After that, Maximus would have survived for eternity and fought in the Crusades, Vietnam, and other notable wars. Cave always knew his idea would be rejected for being too wild, but he had a blast writing it anyway.

At least Maximus killing his son and being cursed to live for eternity sounds like an emotional storyline, so Crowe might have approved of this sequel. Unfortunately, Cave’s idea was just too bonkers for Hollywood to make at the time, but the script can be found with a quick Google search.