Russell Crowe reveals ‘pretty dumb’ sequel idea he rejected
Russell Crowe has revealed the “pretty dumb” Gladiator sequel script he turned down soon after the film became a box-office success.
Crowe, 62, told ScreenRant he was approached for a second film almost immediately after the original’s release in May 2000.
Crowe said he turned down a “dumb” Gladiator sequel. United International Pictures
“The solution that they originally came to me with was pretty dumb,” he said, explaining this was after the film became a hit but before its Academy Award wins.
“They said, ‘Right, we’ve gotta grab this. So here’s the thing. Number 2 starts with, they carry you into a cave, right, they put some medicine on you, slide a rock over the thing and three days later you’re healthy’,” Crowe explained.
“And I was like, that’s a different book. What are we doing here?”
Director Ridley Scott did eventually create a Gladiator sequel, Gladiator II, starring Paul Mescal and released in late 2024.
Crowe was not involved in the movie, and following its release he made clear he wasn’t a huge fan.
“[It] is a really unfortunate example of the people in that engine room [the filmmakers] not actually understanding what made the first one special,” Crowe said.
He said the original film’s success stemmed largely from the unimpeachable virtue of its main protagonist, rather than the big-budget special effects in its sequel.
“It wasn’t the pomp, it wasn’t the circumstance, it wasn’t the action – it was the moral core,” he explained.
So many decades into his career, Crowe has still not made a movie sequel, telling ScreenRant it started as a conscious decision, “because I grew up in an era where a sequel was always a really bad version of the first one”.
Crowe became one of Hollywood’s biggest stars without ever making a film sequel. Getty Images/Frazer Harrison
“But that’s since changed dramatically, where some of the sequels have gone on to be iconic or legendary over and above the original films,” he said.
“So I’m not as closed to it now as I was.”
Crowe said he’d been approached over reprising other characters over the years, including Gabriele Amorth from The Pope’s Exorcist.
“There are certain characters that you play that so very definitely could have bigger lives and more narratives, so you may get to see me do a sequel, we’ll see,” he said.
