All About 'Gladiator 2'
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 The gladiator who defied an emperor.
00:02 Striking story.
00:04 Yeah, and that story should have a sequel.
00:06 This is all about Gladiator 2.
00:09 Director Ridley Scott returns to helm
00:11 the story of Lucius, nephew of Emperor Commodus,
00:14 originally played by Spencer Treat Clark and Joaquin Phoenix.
00:17 Lucius will stay with me now.
00:19 After Son's Paul Meskel takes on the role of adult Lucius,
00:23 and he's surrounded by an all-star cast
00:25 of Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn, and Pedro Pascal.
00:29 Plus, Connie Nielsen, Derek Jacoby, and Jimon Han Su
00:33 return from the first film.
00:35 I will see you again.
00:36 Gladiator was the second highest-grossing film of 2000,
00:39 raking in half a billion at the worldwide box office.
00:42 And it won five Academy Awards, including
00:44 Best Actor for Russell Crowe and Best Picture.
00:47 Are you not entertained?
00:48 No, we are.
00:49 We totally are.
00:50 Development on a Gladiator sequel began in 2001,
00:53 but hit a roadblock concerning one key plot point.
00:56 Now, this is a spoiler for a movie released in the year 2000,
00:59 but it was the death of Crowe's character, Maximus.
01:03 Lucius is safe.
01:04 Early drafts always involved the revelation
01:06 that Maximus was the secret father of Lucilla's son, Lucius.
01:09 But Scott, Crowe, and the studio couldn't agree on the best way
01:13 to involve Maximus in a film that focused on Lucius.
01:16 I like you, Spaniard.
01:18 I shall cheer for you.
01:19 Musician and sometimes screenwriter Nick Cave
01:21 took a crack at the script around 2006,
01:24 creating a tale of Maximus being resurrected
01:26 by the Roman gods as an eternal warrior who
01:29 must kill Jesus Christ to stop the spread of Christianity.
01:33 Cursed to live forever, Maximus fights his way
01:35 through the Crusades, World War II, and the Vietnam War
01:39 like an immortal Forrest Gump.
01:41 I sure hope I don't let him down.
01:43 After some insight from actor Chris Hemsworth
01:45 while he and Crowe worked together
01:47 on Thor, Love and Thunder--
01:48 Pretty boy, you go back to your seat and you be quiet.
01:51 Scott's all the money in the world
01:53 and Napoleon collaborator, David Scarpa,
01:55 was hired to revise the script that would become Gladiator 2.
01:59 Whatever comes out of these gates,
02:02 we've got a better chance of survival if we work together.
02:06 (dramatic music)