Russell Crowe proudly recalls not having a sex scene with Connie Nielsen in Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator,” saying he “sticked to my guns.” Speaking at the Taormina Film Festival, the New Zealand-born actor was asked about the “certain attitude” he displayed regarding the 2024 sequel to his 2000 Oscar-winning blockbuster.
Although Crowe declined to discuss Gladiator II directly, he did elaborate on his moral stance on the original film. “There was so much pressure when we were shooting that movie. The studio and the producers thought there should be sex between Maximus and the female character. I kept pushing back.”
“This is the story of a man seeking revenge for the death of his wife and child,” he continued. “There can’t be a moment in that journey where he stops and has sex with someone. It makes no sense, because it would ruin the journey.”
The actor said he “kept sticking to his guns.” “Fortunately, even though Ridley loved the sex scene between me and Connie Nielsen, he agreed with my opinion at the time that it was the emotional core of the film.”
“The studios at the time didn’t really understand why,” he continued. “That’s something a lot of people don’t realize. From the second week of its release around the world, there were always more women than men in theaters. I think ‘Gladiator’ is superficially a movie for men, but if it was a movie for men it would be a movie about revenge, but it’s not about revenge. It’s a movie about revenge, so it’s a movie for women.”
“(‘Gladiator’) was successful because it had a moral core,” the actor said. “In some ways, if you’re a man, we all want to be the guy who can stay that strong. And if you’re a woman, we all want a man to love you like that.”
In addition, the actor also appeared in “Gladiator” He points out how “The Movie II” “failed” because it lacked that moral core.
Crowe is attending the Sicilian Film Festival on two fronts: receiving the International Achievement Award at the Taormina Film Festival and the world premiere of his latest film, Bear Country, which reunites him with Unhinged director Derrick Borte. The Australian action thriller, which also stars Aaron Paul, Nina Dobrev and Luke Evans, follows an aging club owner Crowe whose dreams of retirement are thwarted when his business is destroyed by armed robbers. Most of the film’s cast will be attending the festival’s glitzy world premiere later this evening at Taormina’s stately Greek Theater.
The actor also spoke about the impact of streaming on theatrical releases, recalling that he received a call directly from Netflix and was told by his agent that he “has the most number one movie on Netflix among actors who have never actually worked for Netflix.”
“Certainly you can watch something at home, even in the comfort of your lounge room if you have a good TV and a good sound system,” he added. “But the movie experience, which we’re having right now, sitting next to people you don’t necessarily know and sharing an experience, you can’t take away that. That part of the experience is so important. It’s storytelling within a community.”
He recalled being contacted by the team at Netflix about the impressive statistics they had achieved on the platform. “They keep buying up all the titles and people will search for my name and stuff,” he added, noting that some of the smaller films in his catalog, such as Paul Haggis’ “The Next Three Days,” ended up being huge successes on the streamer. “I can’t completely rule out everything because it’s going so well for me. Part of the fun conversation I had with Netflix was: You have to start working at Netflix now. So I made a movie with them called ‘The Unabomber,’ which is scheduled to be released in September or October.”
The Oscar-winning “Gladiator” actor also spoke briefly about another major action project currently in the works, Chad Stahelski’s “Highlander” reboot. Crowe will play Juan Sanchez-Villalobos Ramirez in the film, which also stars Henry Cavill as Connor MacLeod and Dave Bautista as the villain Kurgan.
“I just finished filming ‘Highlander,'” he said. “It’s an Amazon production, and it’s going to be great. It’s a production by Chad Stahelski, who directed all the John Wick films, so you know[he]doesn’t have the ability to direct a movie that’s not exciting.”
Finally, Crowe spoke briefly about his recent role in Nuremberg and the “evil” we see in the world. “Evil can be charismatic,” he said, adding, “There are situations in the world right now where political leaders are doing evil things, but it’s because of their charisma that they are given permission and voted out. Be careful with that charisma.”
