Denzel Washington, who has won an Academy Award, is in talks to join the cast of Gladiator 2. A source says that Ridley Scott has convinced an old friend to work on another project with him. Years ago, they were known for making the movie American Gangster. In Gladiator 2, Denzel Washington will be paired with Paul Mescal. This comes after a lot of news about the Best Picture sequel’s casting. This week, Barry Keoghan from “The Batman” was added to the cast in a key role. So, Ridley Scott’s upcoming epic does not lack for big names. For a long time, it seemed like there would never be a Gladiator 2. After all, it would be hard to continue the story in a way that is similar to other big Hollywood franchises given how the first movie ended. But the hook makes sense in this case.
Russell Crowe talked about the turning point in the first Gladiator that led to this one not too long ago.
Yeah we’ve had dinner and talked about it and all that stuff. So I know roughly how he’s shaping the story,
Crowe explained.
But yeah, if you remember, there was a young kid who wanted to beat the Gladiator, which leads to the ‘My name is’ speech. So that young kid has grown up, and he’s now the Emperor. I don’t know what else happens at that point, so that’s the idea. So it’s not a remake. And it’s not a direct sequel. It’s not like the day after, you know, 30 years later or something.
How Did Gladiator 2 Come Together?
David Scarpa has been working on the script for this movie for a while. Gladiator by Ridley Scott has only gotten better over time, but all this talk about a sequel is pretty new when you think about how much else is being rebooted and remade. The script was finished in the spring of 2022, and now things are moving quickly with all of these castings. Scott says that the next movie he will make will be Gladiator 2. Back then, Kitbag was the most important thing, but now it seems like everything has changed. He may have worked with Joaquin Phoenix on that project, but all this talk of reunions is making all the main people involved feel nostalgic.
First of all, I love doing period films. I love the research. I love to create sort of smells of the period,
Scott previously explained to the press.
I think what we did with the first Gladiator…I don’t like being critical of other things that have happened before, but I wasn’t the biggest fan of Hollywood Roman epics, honestly. They felt artificial and so, when I was asked to consider a script, the script was not very good. But the person who gave it to me said, I want to show you one thing, and he picked up an illustration, this is true, it’s called For Those About to Die by Gérôme. He holds it up. It’s a picture of this big painting of the Coliseum, and in the corner there is this guy, about to tuna fork this poor bastard,
Scott continued.
He’s got this thing in his neck, and he’s looking up for permission to kill. I went, bloody hell, that’s never been done properly before. Never. I said, I’ll do it. He said you will? I said yes. Did you want to read the script? I said no, and we went off and hit the ground running around the table, and evolved the new material.
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