Russell Crowe attacks Gladiator II and the choice of a character has him furious

Russell Crowe might have won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Maximus in Ridley Scott’s 2000 hit “Gladiator,” but his experience with the film’s sequel, released some 24 years later, was considerably different.

In a clip from an interview with Australian radio station Triple J that was shared on social media on Monday, the actor had a less than positive view of 2024’s “Gladiator II,” starring Paul Mescal and also directed by Scott.

“The recent sequel that we don’t have to name out loud is a very good example of even the people in that engine room not understanding what made the first one special,” Crowe said in the clip. “It wasn’t the pomp. It wasn’t the circumstance. It wasn’t the action. It was the moral core.”

Regarding the original film, he added: “The thing is, there was a daily struggle on that set. It was a daily struggle to maintain that moral core of the character. The number of times they suggested sex scenes and things like that for Maximus, it’s like you were taking away his power.”

Archive photos via Getty Images

Crowe did not film any new scenes for “Gladiator II,” as Maximus died at the end of the first film. The character, however, appears briefly in several flashback sequences.

The protagonist of “Gladiator II” is Lucius (played by Mescal), who is revealed to be the son of Maximus and Lucilla (Connie Nielsen, reprising her role from the first film).

Given that Maximus spends much of “Gladiator” seeking revenge for the murder of his wife and son, Crowe believes the sequel’s implication that his character and Lucilla had a secret affair that resulted in a child was a misstep.

“So you’re saying that at the same time he was having this relationship with his wife, he was fucking this other girl?” said. “What are you talking about? It’s crazy.”

Despite mixed reviews, “Gladiator II” was a box office success, grossing $462 million worldwide. It also helped establish Mescal, considered a front-runner in this year’s awards season for his portrayal of William Shakespeare in “Hamnet,” as a rising star.

Aidan Monaghan/Paramount Pictures

Crowe has criticized “Gladiator II” on several occasions leading up to his interview with Triple J. Appearing at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic last year, he argued that the new film’s creative team “should pay me for the amount of questions they ask me about a movie I’m not even in.”

“It has nothing to do with me. In that world, I’m dead. Six feet under,” he said, according to Variety. “But I admit a certain tinge of jealousy, because they remind me of when I was younger and what they meant to me, in my life.”

In his Triple J chat, he acknowledged hearing complaints about the sequel from longtime “Gladiator” fans who assumed he was somehow involved in the production of the new film.

“Women in Europe, when that movie started coming out, I was in a restaurant and they came to talk to me. [and complain]”Crowe joked. “It’s like, ‘Hey, it wasn’t me! I didn’t do it.’”