Russell Crowe “Slightly Uncomfortable” With Gladiator 2

Gladiator star Russell Crowe says that he’s “slightly uncomfortable” with the idea of Gladiator 2. The most recent episode of Kyle Meredith With… sees the Gladiator actor talking about how melancholic all the news around the sequel has made him feel. After all, his character, Maximus Decimus Meridius kicked the bucket at the end of the first film. (Spoiler alert for an almost 25-year-old movie!) But, before he passed on into that field, Crowe’s Maximus left a massive mark on the movie-going public. With that kind of cache, a sequel feels like it was inevitable at some point. But, the star feels like he could have been more involved in one way or another. He doesn’t think it will be bad, but it’s a strange feeling for him to be watching this all develop from the outside.

“I’m slightly uncomfortable, the fact that they’re making another one, you know? Because of course, I’m dead, and I have no say in what gets done,” Crowe admitted. “A couple of things that I’ve heard, I’m like, ‘No, no, no. That’s not in the moral journey of that particular character.’ But you know, I can’t say anything. That’s not my place. I’m six feet under. So we’ll see what that is like.”

“I reflect back on the age I was when I made that film and all the things that came after it and the doors that particular movie opened for me,” the actor recalled. “So there’s definitely a tinge — and this is just being purely honest — a tinge of melancholy, a tinge of jealousy. Because I remember when I had tendons.”

Gladiator II Has Pressure To Live Up To A Classic 

With so much fondness for Gladiator in the air, it was a bit daunting for the current cast to step into the Coliseum. Joseph Quinn is one of the new faces on Gladiator 2. He talked to Entertainment Weekly about living up the memory of Crowe’s work with Ridley. The Stranger Things star explained how he, Paul Mescal and others were laser focused on doing right by Gladiator. It’s been a sneaky long time since the original echoed throughout multiplexes. But, that doesn’t mean the fan receptions or nostalgia has dulled the love for that story.

“We all were very aware of the legacy of the first film,” Quinn revealed. “So many people get misty-eyed about it. So going anywhere near it again felt a little scary.” 

Apparently, just walking into that Coliseum is enough to make you straighten your back a bit. The set designers went all out to bring the setting to life. “It’s bonkers, it’s nuts,” he added. “That’s the thing with working on a film like that, it changes your perspective on things. The fact that on a film of that scale, they built ancient Rome in Malta and to bear witness to that is truly awesome.”

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