“Russell Crowe Almost Refused to Work on “Absolutely Stupid” Script for Gladiator, Reveals in Vanity Fair Interview”

In an interview with Vanity Fair, actor Russell Crowe has looked back on one of his most legendary roles in the movie Gladiator and admitted that he almost refused to continue working on director Ridley Scott’s 2000 film because he thought the script was “absolutely stupid”.

In the interview, Crowe says that before the movie “Gladiator” he had already participated in more than 20 other projects and when he got involved in this one, he was confident in his abilities as the main character.

“What we did was a great concept, but the script was bad, absolutely bad. It had all kinds of weird sequences,” Crowe says candidly, explaining that one of them was about chariots and how famous gladiators used a certain kind of cart. “It really was, but it wouldn’t resonate with today’s audience. I asked them, ‘What the hell is that?'”

The actor also adds that because of this, the energy in their work was “very broken”.

The actor, who won an Oscar for his role as Maximus Decimus Meridius in the film, also admitted that he considered quitting the film. “A couple of times I thought the best thing for me would be to just get on a plane and get out of here.” The reason the actor stayed and continued to work on the legendary role was because during his “belief talk with Ridley” he told me, “Dude, we’re not going to take on anything you don’t believe in 100 percent.” When we started working on the film, we could agree on 21 pages in the script, but a script is usually around 103 to 110 pages. So we had a long way to go.” Russell says that the part of the script they had agreed on appeared in the first part of the film, and the second part was made after that.

We’ve already reported that a sequel to Gladiator is in the works, which will hit the big screen in November 2024, and Crowe recently admitted that he’s “a bit jealous” that he’s not in the film. He revealed to “Collider” that Maximus’ role and work in this project changed his life, people’s attitude towards him and what he does in life and how he earns a living. The actor appreciates that he is very lucky to have the opportunity to participate in many important and big films, but none can be compared to “Gladiator”.