Russell Crowe is “slightly uncomfortable” that Gladiator 2 is being made.
The 60-year-old star played General Maximus in Sir Ridley Scott’s original historical epic and admits that it is disconcerting to see the story revisited with Paul Mescal in the lead role.
Speaking on the Kyle Meredith With… podcast, Crowe said: “I’m slightly uncomfortable with the fact they’re making another one – because, of course, I’m dead and I have no say in what gets done.”
“But a couple of things I’ve heard I’m like, ‘No, no, no, that’s not in the moral journey of that particular character.’ But I can’t say anything, it’s not my place, I’m six foot under. So we’ll see what that is like.”
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Crowe won the Best Actor Oscar for his work on Gladiator and admits that seeing the sequel – which is set to be released later this year – brings on feelings of “melancholy” and “jealousy” because of the influence the movie had on his career.
He said: “I reflect back: the age I was when I made that film and all the things that came after it, the doors that particular movie opened for me. This is just me being purely honest: there’s definitely a tinge of melancholy, a tinge of jealousy. I remember when I had tendons.”
Mescal plays the role of Lucius – who is believed to be the nephew of Joaquin Phoenix’s alter ego Commodus – and revealed last year that he was feeling the pressure of taking on such an important job after the immense success of the first movie.
The Normal People star told Esquire: “I can’t tell you how stressed I am talking about that film in particular, because it’s definitely the biggest one I’ve done. I feel really excited, but, like, it’s difficult to get away from the legacy of the film a bit. I think it’s really well written and it pays homage to the first one, but it’s very much something that I think I can step into and make comfortably my own.”
Gladiator 2 is currently scheduled to open in theaters on November 22.
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