Posted in: Movies, Paramount Pictures | Tagged: Gladiator 2, gladiator ii

Gladiator II: Joseph Quinn Praises Ridley Scott's Worldbuilding

Gladiator II star Joseph Quinn praises director Sir Ridley Scott's worldbuilding and discusses respecting the first film's legacy.

There are a lot of big movies coming out this fall, but one that people really should not underestimate is Gladiator II. This movie has been in varying levels of development hell for a very long time, but Paramount finally got the movie up in the last couple of years. At CinemaCon, we got to see some footage that does look very promising, but they haven't released anything to the public yet. The cast also remains mum about the film but can say a few things. Joseph Quinn interviewed with Men's Health and was asked about working with Sir Ridley Scott. Quinn gushed about how incredible it was and how amazing Scott was at worldbuilding specifically.

"He is a world builder," Quinn said. "He creates these films that utterly transport you, and that is a very rare thing to be able to do. I, like you, was a massive fan of his films: I remember watching Blade Runner as a kind of rite-of-passage with my Dad when I was younger; Gladiator was a really seminal film for me; Thelma and Louise, American Gangster, Alien, obviously. There are so many, and there's such a variety in that body of work that indicates the caliber of director that he is, and the kind of creativity that he's able to harness and weaponize.

"Watching him negotiate these brutal shoot days… as you said, he's not 32 anymore," Quinn continued. "But he conducts himself with such a vigor, and thirst, for life and also filmmaking, still—he just loves it, and that is very infectious. Working with him… I was never expecting to do that, obviously, and so I was incredibly grateful. I just tried, like we all did, to be as present as we could, and to understand that this was a very rare thing. Outside of making the film itself, it was a very rare experience as a human being to bare witness to ancient Rome. He built ancient Rome! Not a lot of people can do that—Ridley Scott can."

You don't last in the business as long as Sir Ridley has without being extremely good at your job, and even when Scott misses, the films are misses in interesting ways. Gladiator II is a film that might have a bit of an uphill battle against it, though. It's another one of those sequels where people will ask, "Who asked for this?" and "Does this need to exist?" When you stick the landing as perfectly as the first film did, it's hard to return for round two, even when you're a master of your craft. It sounds like Quinn and the cast were very aware of the pedigree they were going up against while working on the film.

"It was a remarkable experience," Quinn said when asked if he could share anything about his upcoming role in Gladiator II. "We had a wonderful gang on it—Paul Mescal, Fred Hechinger, Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen returned from the previous film, and Pedro Pascal, among some other really wonderful people. We certainly were aware of the legacy of the first film, so we wanted to pay homage to that and understand that it's one of those films that many people get misty-eyed about, myself included. Going back near that world felt a little daunting but also utterly thrilling. Yes, I play one of the emperors in it, and it was a truly incredible experience. And that's all I can say."

The trailers for the November and December releases are starting to trickle in, so maybe we'll see something for Gladiator II sooner rather than later. The movie has some big competition as it goes against some other big November releases like Wicked and Moana 2 later in the month. This movie will have a massive budget, which doesn't include the fact that there could be some pre-production costs from the false starts and time spent in development hell that also need to be considered.

We talk a lot here about studios needing to get movie budgets under control, but Gladiator II is an example of a film that is in the opposite direction it needs to head in. It's a blockbuster that will have to clear half a billion at the box office before anyone involved can even think about getting out of the red. This is also during a recession when people are going to choose between movies or Christmas presents or can only roll the dice on one film that holiday season. As we said, this film is going up again, Wicked and Moana 2. If most audiences can only watch one movie, will that one movie be Gladiator II?

Gladiator II Has Been In Development Hell For Two Decades

A follow-up to Gladiator is one of those movies where you're really unsure if this is a good idea, but it has been in varying stages of development since 2001. However, things fell apart in 2006, and it wasn't until over a decade later, in 2017, that things started to pick up again. It was officially greenlit in November 2018, and last year, it was announced that the script was complete. In January, we got word that Aftersun and Normal People star Paul Mescal was in talks to star. Ridley Scott is back to direct the film with a script by David Scarpa, returning costume designer Janty Yates, and production designer Arthur Max. Scott is set to produce along with Scott Free President Michael Pruss, as well as Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher via Red Wagon Entertainment. Since then, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Derek Jacobi, Joseph Quinn, Connie Nielsen, Fred Hechinge, May Calamawy, Lior Raz, Peter Mensah, and Matt Lucas have all joined the cast.

We have a release date of November 22, 2024, and it appears that Gladiator II will be the official title.

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