Posted in: Movies, Paramount Pictures, Universal | Tagged: film, Gladiator, Gladiator 2, ridley scott

Ridley Scott Discusses the Lengthy Pause Between Gladiator Films

Gladiator director Ridley Scott is revealing the primary reason it took so long for a sequel film to move forward.

In the year 2000, director Ridley Scott dropped the epic historical drama film Gladiator, earning rave reviews and an impressive $500 million during its theatrical run. But what we weren't expecting was for the filmmaker to return decades later with a hyped follow-up story in mind. Nonetheless, Gladiator 2 is officially coming soon, and now we finally have more details about why Scott chose to return to Gladiator after all these years.

Gladiator 2 Director on Why a Sequel Required More Than Two Decades

During a new interview with Total Film, the Gladiator director directly discussed his choice to pursue a sequel nearly 23 years after the original, telling the publication, "Why now? It didn't have a script [before]. We tried, actually, four years ago, and I chose a very good writer who couldn't get his head around it. He wrestled. He was terribly upset that he didn't deliver. He's a friend of mine. I said, 'You're not getting there?' He said, 'No.' That took 10 months. So it went dead. And then we circled the wagons again, coming back with a very obvious idea: and why not? There's a survivor. The survivor is the son of the union between Lucilla and Maximus."

In a recent conversation with Esquire, Gladiator 2 star Paul Mescal was asked about what to expect; he teased, "I can't get into that! I can't tell you how stressed I am talking about that film in particular because it's definitely the biggest one I've done. I feel really excited, but, like, it's difficult to get away from the legacy of the film a bit. I think it's really well written, and it pays homage to the first one, but it's very much something that I think I can step into and make comfortably my own."

Gladiator 2 is currently scheduled to be released in theaters on November 22, 2024.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!