Gladiator II
GladiatorProducer Doug Wick says that the large stumbling block for a potentialGladiator 2is the fact that Maximus died in the original picture . Gladiatorwas a box authority hit and critical darling when it was relinquish in 2000 . It cementedRidley Scott ’s reputationas one of the greatest filmmaker of all time , and established its Pb , Russell Crowe , as a global superstar . It went on to win five academy laurels , including Best Actor for Crowe , as well as Best Picture .
Rumors about aGladiator 2have swirled for years , but the sequel has yet to get past the provision stage . The in vogue news show , in 2018 , was that Scottis sour on a handwriting with Peter Craigand that he would return to organize it . early incarnations ofGladiator 2included a possible prequel , which was quick dismissed , as well as asequel book written by Nick Cave . That version would have seen the reference of Maximus bestow back to life sentence through the body of another dead soldier , after spending prison term in the hereafter give ear out with the Roman gods . It was rule out as being too out there and not in the flavour of the original .
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" Ridley would make out to do it . Everyone [ involved with the original ] roll in the hay the movie too much to ever consider cheaply exploiting it … It ’s just really a unmortgaged creative problem , working on a script … Ridley ’s working on it , it ’s really just a interrogative of whether we can get it to a place where it feel suitable to make it … And , of path , the leading gentleman’s gentleman is all in . "
Wick also says that back when the first flick came out , Crowe ’s agent called him up and half - jokingly said the easiest way to take Maximus back to life is to open up the sequel with a aspect that shows his destruction in the first moving picture was misrepresent . That approximation clearly did not fly with the manufacturer .
The issue of bringing back Maximus is not just a narrative one . The other job is that Crowe is perceptibly old , given that the first film was free two tenner ago , and long ago lose the physique that made him such a overtop on - blind presence . For him to return , regardless of how Scott and Craig accomplish it narratively , Crowe would have to put in some serious time in the gym .
There is , of trend , an option for a subsequence that does n’t involve resurrecting Maximus . Rather , Gladiator 2could focus on the character of Lucius , the son of Maximus ' x - lover Lucilla , and where he ends up as an grownup . This might be a more instinctive and less gimmicky way to bring forth a sequel , that does n’t degrade the original , as Wick fears . It could deal with the same universal era of Roman imperialism , and tackle similar radical of exemption and slaveholding , like the original . If Scott insists on bringing Crowe back as Maximus , though , he will have to ensure the reasoning behind it is solid . Otherwise , Gladiator 2could end up looking like a cheap attempt to cash in in on a much - get laid film .
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