‘Mad Spectacle’: Russell Crowe Pays Tribute to His Gladiator Nemesis As Sequel Unveils His Scenes

2000 was Russell Crowe: Gladiator, Oscar for Best Actor, Blessing. Ridley Scott’s legendary epic won no fewer than 12 nominations at the prestigious ceremony that year, including Best Director and Best Supporting Actor for Joaquin Phoenix. However, the latter did not win the award, much to the “embarrassment” of Russell Crowe.

Interviewed by our SensaCine colleagues at the premiere of his latest film, The Vatican Exorcist, which hits our screens on May 10, the actor admitted that he was “a bit embarrassed” to be the one he received. All the praise because the film was “more gigantic” and contained much more than his character’s story and his performance.

In Gladiator, Russell Crowe stars as the main character Maximus Decimus Meridius, a Roman army general betrayed by Commodus, the son of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, played by Joaquin Phoenix. For the former, the latter also earned awards.

I don’t know why the rest of the world didn’t realize how great Joaquin played because it was such an insane performance.

An extraordinary experience

Despite this sense of injustice, Russell Crowe has fond memories of the experience. At that time, the actor already had several experiences, but nothing so epic. “The first day I walked on set, there were hundreds and hundreds of Roman soldiers, and I thought, “Wow, that’s huge. And then I looked at the terrain and there were 6,000 German barbarians, 150 horses, catapults, archers… it was a little crazy.“

Russell Crowe also spoke about the greatness of the film’s cast, which made the film even more legendary. “We had Richard Harris and Derek Jacobi, actors who were wonderful to work with. You have Connie Nielsen and Joaquin Phoenix. Take a look at Joaquin’s career. Djimon Hounsou, my boy… it was a big group of people. It was amazing.“

Nominated for the Best Actor Oscar in 2006 and again in 2013 for Walk The Line and The Master respectively, Joaquin Phoenix finally won his first statuette in the prestigious category in 2020 for his role in The Joker. The actor will next star in the film’s sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, opposite Lady Gaga, which is scheduled for release on October 2, 2024. On our screens on November 22.

GLADIATOR 2 opens in Morocco

But Russell Crowe did not forget to mention the genius behind the work, Ridley Scott, who is currently busy directing the sequel to the feature film.

Working with an artist like Ridley is incredible. He is one of the most incredible filmmakers of all time.

Ridley Scott has already prepared everything for the shooting of Gladiator 2. Paul Meskal will play the main role in the sequel. Set 25 years after Gladiator, the film follows Lucius, son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) and nephew of Commodus, on his own epic adventure. Plateau construction is also underway in Morocco, as shown in the following photos.

Gladiator 2 will be released in November 2024. In the meantime, you can watch Gladiator on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.