‘We have a good relationship … as long as he doesn’t start bitching’: why Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe’s Gladiator 2 spat has me entertained

Scott – without doubt the greatest interviewee on the planet – seems to be goading one of the most explosive actors in existence about his absence from the sequel of the film that made him

By any metric, Gladiator II is a gamble. The original, almost a quarter of a century ago, was the sort of phenomenon that can’t be planned. Not only was it the second highest-grossing film of 2000, and not only did it win best picture at the Oscars, but it launched Russell Crowe into the stratosphere and boosted Ridley Scott back into the A-list after almost a decade of misfires. The thought that its sequel might even come close to achieving that level of commercial and critical success is genuinely inconceivable.

Now, a naysayer might suggest that, no matter how good it is, Gladiator II is destined to only be thought of as an afterthought – a follow-up. However, as a counterpoint, I’d like to posit the argument that any project that allows Scott to do interviews is automatically a spectacular success.

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