Russell Crowe has shared details of an axed storyline in Gladiator 2.
The actor, who played Maximus in the first film, revealed there was almost a plotline inspired by the Bible included in the long-awaited sequel.
Recalling a conversation he had with producer Doug Wick, Crowe told Screen Rant: “He said he had this great idea where Maximus gets carried from the stadium and they pull back this big rock and he gets put into this cave and then the rock closes over and he’s anointed with oils. And then the rock opens up and he comes out.”
He continued: “And I said, ‘Doug, I don’t think we have the rights to that story.’ But that was a long, long time ago and I don’t think he appreciated my sense of humour at the time.”
Plans for a sequel have been gestating for years. At one point, Nick Cave was attached to write a Gladiator 2 script, which would have seen Maximus travel through the afterlife before being resurrected through the body of a slain warrior. Wick recently said that the possibility of a sequel is still there, and that director Ridley Scott is working on a solution to the problem of bringing back Maximus.
Crowe also recently revealed that he struggled to fully enjoy his 2001 Oscar win for the first Gladiator film because he felt less worthy than his director Ridley Scott.
He said: “It is a director’s film. It was one of those moments of, ‘Why did I get all the attention when the Academy Award belongs to Ridley Scott?’”
Russell Crowe most recently starred in road-rage thriller Unhinged. In a three-star review, The Independent’s critic Clarisse Loughrey wrote: “Derrick Borte’s film is tense, slick, and finds just enough mildly ludicrous causes of death to earn its high-concept thriller credentials.”
