Before you start to worry too much about Crowe’s “Gladiator II” doubts, keep in mind that he also had plenty of reservations on the set of the first movie. “I did think a couple of times, ‘Maybe my best bet option is just to get on a plane and get out of here,'” the actor admitted in a retrospective with Vanity Fair.
Director Ridley Scott was able to talk his star down by promising him, “We’re not committing anything to camera that you don’t believe in 100%.” By the start of filming they still only had around 20 or so pages of the script that they agreed on, which left them scrambling to figure out the story during the shoot itself. When Crowe finally saw it on the big screen, though, he realized that something special had emerged from all that chaos:
“When I first saw it, I was blown away by it. And when I first saw it with a crowd, that’s when it really freaked me out, because it was like going to a movie when I was a kid. People were so connected to the film. And they were voicing that connection. [When] the emperor puts that knife under Maximus’ arm [to cripple him before their fight], people were angry! They were standing in their seats [and] calling him a motherf***er. [Laughs] And I was like, ‘Woah, this is big!'”
Crowe won an Oscar for his performance in “Gladiator,” and was nominated again the following year for “A Beautiful Mind.” His public image took some hits during that time period due to his off-screen reputation for getting into brawls, but his on-screen career has scarcely faltered. And while his arena days might be behind him, you don’t need tendons to fight the Devil.
