Gladiator II

[nanison]

I'm pretty sure I read "wraiths" was in production a few years ago but I guess it stalled.

Wait a minute, it could also have been "the brigands of Rattleborge".

[𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯]

A couple new details:

-In a Sky News interview Ridley said that they should finish shooting the rest of the film before Christmas.

-In a Rotten Tomatoes interview Ridley said Paul Mescal's character was in the wilderness for the last 12 years since we last saw him and his mother doesn't know whether he is still alive.

[𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯]

Denzel Washington's New Movie Creates A Great New Career Trend After Gladiator 2 Casting

Denzel Washington is set to play a big role in Ridley Scott's Gladiator 2, but that isn't the only film set in ancient Rome that he'll appear in.

Denzel Washington is setting a new career trend by taking on roles in two upcoming movies set in ancient Rome, including Gladiator 2 and a film about Hannibal the Conqueror.
This trend of Washington starring in ancient civilization films is a more specific continuation of his previous role as the titular king in 2021's The Tragedy of Macbeth.
While both movies are set in ancient Rome, they will have different tones and focus, with Gladiator 2 expected to be more action-oriented and spectacle-driven, while Washington's Hannibal film will likely delve deeper into the history of the conqueror.

Denzel Washington's new movie has revealed an odd pattern, setting up a great new career trend after his casting in Gladiator 2. Denzel Washington is one of the most popular actors of the modern era, with him appearing in all kinds of critically-acclaimed films throughout his career. However, some of his recent career choices have followed an interesting trend, but this may be the perfect choice for Denzel Washington's future.

Denzel Washington is an Academy Award-winning actor that has appeared in all kinds of films throughout the past few decades, with him making a name for himself in both blockbusters and smaller films. Washington has starred in such films as Malcolm X, Training Day, Fences and more, with him even leading the popular action franchise The Equalizer. Denzel Washington's career is far from over, however, as he now has a role in one of the most highly-anticipated upcoming sequels: Gladiator 2.

Ancient Rome isn't a setting that Washington has dabbled in before, but the future of both movies prove that he is delving into the landscape head-first. This actually is a more specific version of a trend that Washington has already experimented in, as this is another film about ancient civilizations starring Washington as a great ruler. Washington previously starred in 2021's The Tragedy of Macbeth, with him playing the titular king.

Although both Denzel Washington's Hannibal movie and Gladiator 2 are set in ancient Rome, they will undoubtedly be very different. Ridley Scott is returning to direct Gladiator 2, meaning that it will probably be similar to the original. So, it can be expected that Gladiator 2 will heavily focus on action, appeal to broad demographics, and focus more on spectacle than accuracy. It isn't known how big of a role Washington will play in the film, as Gladiator 2 will focus on Paul Mescal's Lucius, the nephew of Commodus.

Denzel Washington's Hannibal film, on the other hand, will probably give a greater focus to the history of the conqueror. Both films will undoubtedly have a grand scale, but the tone and story of the films will depart due to the different subject matters. While ancient Rome is the common setting that both Denzel Washington movies share, the Hannibal movie and Gladiator 2 won't be the same.

https://screenrant.com/denzel-washington-gladiator-2-hannibal-conqueror-ancient-rome/

Interesting story was that after Scott finished Gladiator, he was approached by a producer asking him whether he'd be interested in doing a 'Hannibal" movie.

Scott told him to f*ck off, saying he just did an ancient Rome movie, and wasn't going to do Hannibal and his bloody elephants invading Rome.

Of course this wasn't the "Hannibal" the producer was refering to and Scott subsequently did end up doing a Hannibal movie.

What's the status of Gladiator 2?

I just looked at the cutting copy of it. I've already got it cut together. I overlap, and I move fast. I was shooting it for nine weeks and heard about the strike and had to stop. It's an hour and forty-five minutes after nine weeks, and I've just looked at the fine cut. There will be visual effects. I've got a rhinoceros charging around in an arena trying to kill people. That all starts getting polished together.

What made you want to revisit the world of Gladiator?

I love historic films. In many ways, my best experiences have been The Duellists, Kingdom of Heaven, and Gladiator — because Gladiator was so successful, and you want to enjoy some success. I've almost always got a period thing cooking on the side somewhere because history is so fascinating. With history, we don't learn any lessons, do we? We keep repeating the bad news.

We do a lot of that in America.

Yes. But America I've always looked at as the epitome of democracy. And dude, at the moment, you still are — just. You're really the only one in the world left at that level. It cannot slide any further sideways. It must not.

What sold you on Paul Mescal as your warrior-lead in Gladiator 2?

I have to have a bedtime story, so every night I watch something. I'm a big news freak, so I do the news first. I get the news from CNN because it's my favorite news program. I think they stick more or less to the truth. People say they don't, but yes they f**king do. And then I found Normal People, and I thought, "This is interesting." Both the girl and him were very real. And already I was thinking, "Down the road in a year, he might be the lead to take over where Russell Crowe left off." I asked Paul Mescal and he said, "Yes, absolutely." Commodus is the brother of Lucilla. Lucilla has the child, Lucius, but it's from the union of her and Maximus — which she has kept a secret. It's really the story of, "Whatever happened to Lucius?" There were a lot of inaccuracies in Gladiator, but I think it turned out pretty damned good. It certainly wasn't a history lesson, and we cheated a lot along the way, but we based a lot of it on the last days of Marcus Aurelius, whose son was indeed Commodus, and whose daughter was Lucilla.

[happypred]

Well, the original Gladiator had the memorable Juba character as a fellow slave-gladiator in North Africa. Unlike American Southerners, Romans practiced a highly diverse and inclusive form of slavery

Personally, I would find it quite odd to cast Denzel as a prominent Roman senator or general, as historically the number of patrician sub-saharan Africans was probably zero. Macbeth was already an odd casting choice imo. Maybe they could get away with it if his character is similar to Juba, but perhaps started as a trader rather than a slave？

[𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯]

Gladiator 2 Update Offers More Clues About Denzel Washington's Role In Epic Sequel

Ridley Scott details the role being played by Denzel Washington in his upcoming Gladiator 2, offering clues as to how he fits into the story.

- Gladiator 2 director Ridley Scott reveals more details about Denzel Washington's character, an ancient arms dealer and former gladiator

- Washington's character is wealthy, runs a stable of gladiators, and is plotting to take power from the Roman rulers.

- While there are similarities to Oliver Reed's character Proximo, Washington's character is more successful and ambitious.

In a recent interview with Deadline, Scott provided several key details about Washington's unnamed Gladiator 2 character and how he fits into the world of Ancient Rome. Describing his character as an ancient arms dealer who has gotten rich by providing the Roman army with weapons and supplies, the director also revealed that Washington's character was once a former gladiator who won his freedom and now runs his own stable of competitive warriors. Check out his comments below:

There's a parallel character, the owner of a business that supplied weapons for the Romans, who supplied the oil when they traveled, who supplied the wine they drink. They wouldn't drink water, they drank wine. When they traveled, who would supply wagons and horses and tack? There had to be the arms dealers of the period; here is a man who already rich from supplying the weapons, the catapults. His hobby is like a racing stable except it's gladiators. He's got a stable of 30 or 40 gladiators. He likes to actually see them fight and it evolves that that's where he came from. He was captured in North Africa, and evolved into a free man because he was a good gladiator. But he hides that because also he's now realizing the potential of his actual power. He's wealthier than most senators, so already has thoughts and designs of the possible idea of taking power from these two crazy princes.

https://screenrant.com/gladiator-2-denzel-washington-role-update-ridley-scott/

Ridley Scott Describes His Original Gladiator 2 Opening Scene With Russell Crowe, And Now I Need To See This

Sir Ridley Scott has enjoyed a long and illustrious career, one that extends all the way back to Alien and Blade Runner (two of his absolute best) and continues to the historical epic Napoleon, which is enjoying a theatrical run before making its way to AppleTV+ later on this year. The prolific director, who is staying busy well into his eighties, is moving right back to Gladiator 2, which was delayed thanks to the SAG-AFTRA strike but is ready to resume production ahead of a planned 2024 release. The long-awaited sequel to Scott's Oscar-winning Gladiator has gone through multiple iterations over the years, many of which we break down here, and during a recent conversation, the director gave more details to the opening scene he had crafted that would have used original Gladiator star, Russell Crowe.

Ridley Scott was a guest on CinemaBlend's official podcast, ReelBlend, to talk all things Napoleon. And towards the end of the conversation, we brought up Gladiator 2, knowing that the director was in the middle of his shoot. We mentioned the fact that there have been numerous versions of Gladiator 2 available for people, and brought up the ones that once included Russell Crowe. As you likely will recall, Crowe's character Maximus dies in the arena, having faced down Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). But Scott figured out how to bring Crowe back, and once envisioned a Gladiator 2 movie that opened as such:

Nick Cave wrote the script, but I had the idea. I knew how to bring him back through a portal, back to the real world. I'm not going tell you what it is, because somebody will steal it. . ... I talked to Nick every other day for about a month as he was writing it. And so I said, 'We can bring him back this way.' And what I want to do is start the film in Styx, on the edge of the ocean, and you see him, this warrior, wandering in armor. Then, it's Maximus wandering, looking for where he's going to go next. That's Scene One.

https://www.cinemablend.com/interviews/ridley-scott-describes-his-original-gladiator-2-opening-scene-with-russell-crowe-and-now-i-need-to-see-this

[KiramidHead]

So Scott is now taking credit for the Cave script? I remember him saying he wasn't keen on it but Crowe was.

[Ingwar]

I've got a rhinoceros charging around in an arena trying to kill people.

Ridley Scott's Gladiator took home five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor, but while many audiences would consider it a major accomplishment, producer Doug Wick recently detailed that he did still have a regret about the picture, which is that they couldn't deliver a CG rhinoceros in any of the epic battles that Scott had hoped to include. While there might not be any official plans of when a follow-up film could be moving forward, the producer noted that, were such a project ever to take place, he hopes to right that wrong and deliver the CG rhino that Scott deserves.

"There are issues that were really more about cost," Wick shared with ComicBook.com about the film. "Which is, for example, Ridley wanted a rhino in the arena. And, when we talked to the animal trainers, they said, 'Well, they're great to work with, but once you start it, you can't stop it.' So then we priced a CG rhino and it was just too expensive. So I would say that was one of the regrets, we couldn't give Ridley a CG rhino."

He added, "It's a running joke, that if we ever do a sequel, Ridley gets his rhino."

https://comicbook.com/movies/news/gladiator-movie-regret-doug-wick-rhino-russell-crowe/



https://us.propstoreauction.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/48/lot/11930/index.html

Maximus wandering in armor alongside river Styx? Absolutely ridiculous. Now I want to see it!

[Wweyland]

They should do a Maximus prequel comic, because why the hell not

[nanison]

I hope the scene with the recreation of a naval battle in the arena is filmed too. I'd love to see how that could have looked in real life

[KiramidHead]

I'd say that they stopped doing naval battles in the arena by the time thus movie takes place, but Ridley would probably tell me to go f**k myself. 

[𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯]

I hope the scene with the recreation of a naval battle in the arena is filmed too. I'd love to see how that could have looked in real life

This was from a crew member earlier:

https://twitter.com/Alberto_EPCREW/status/1687399766651539456

I have photos of the shooting of #Gladiator2 but I can't post them.. 😔
Just a hint, we are going to see the famous Naumachia's in the colosseum.

I'd say that they stopped doing naval battles in the arena by the time thus movie takes place, but Ridley would probably tell me to go f**k myself. 

Yeah, tunnels and elevators were later added to the Colosseum underneath the arena floor, which would have prevented flooding the arena, but that won't stop Riddles.

[Wweyland]

At least we haven't seen that in any movie before.

[𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯]

Ridley Scott's Gladiator took home five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor, but while many audiences would consider it a major accomplishment, producer Doug Wick recently detailed that he did still have a regret about the picture, which is that they couldn't deliver a CG rhinoceros in any of the epic battles that Scott had hoped to include. While there might not be any official plans of when a follow-up film could be moving forward, the producer noted that, were such a project ever to take place, he hopes to right that wrong and deliver the CG rhino that Scott deserves.

"There are issues that were really more about cost," Wick shared with ComicBook.com about the film. "Which is, for example, Ridley wanted a rhino in the arena. And, when we talked to the animal trainers, they said, 'Well, they're great to work with, but once you start it, you can't stop it.' So then we priced a CG rhino and it was just too expensive. So I would say that was one of the regrets, we couldn't give Ridley a CG rhino."

He added, "It's a running joke, that if we ever do a sequel, Ridley gets his rhino."

https://comicbook.com/movies/news/gladiator-movie-regret-doug-wick-rhino-russell-crowe/

https://content.propstore.com/auction/philtippett/test/listings9/lot64/img01.jpg
https://us.propstoreauction.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/48/lot/11930/index.html

Another story about the Rhinos:

Ridley Scott Wanted Rhinos Instead Of Tigers.

Although the tigers in the Maximus-Tigris battle scene seem plausible to the average viewer, it would have been more true to history to have rhinos released into the arena as part of the combat. Rhinos were actually very regularly fought by gladiators in Roman arenas, which is why Scott wanted to have them in the scene. While having rhinos in the scene would have kept true to the historical elements of actual gladiator spectacles of ancient history, the VFX proved to be too costly to include them in Scott's film. As a result, tigers proved to be just as effective in Gladiator while also reducing the overall costs of post-production.

Even if the rhinos had been affordable for Gladiator, their appearance in the Maximus-Tigris battle scene would have looked silly due to its general strangeness in this day and age. Despite the historical accuracy of rhinos taking part in ancient gladiator battles, rhinos aren't typically perceived as dangerous threats nearly as much as wild tigers are. Some of the early test footage of Gladiator featuring rhinos simply looks funny, which would have undermined the serious and intense tone that the Maximus-Tigris battle scene so powerfully evoked from its audience. For both financial and narrative reasons, VFX tigers were a much better choice than rhinos for Gladiator.

Even though tigers were the better choice compared to VFX rhinos, the tigers that were featured in Gladiator weren't as vicious as they should have been. Scott and his production crew also used actual tigers during the filming process, which made it much easier from a practical shooting standpoint than trying to acquire heavily endangered rhinos. Some of the close-up shots of the real-life tigers are impactful, especially when viewed on the big screen. However, the VFX tigers that jump on Maximus during the battle hardly leave a scratch on him, which is incredibly odd considering how easily a tiger could have overtaken him through sheer force alone.

While the VFX tigers are certainly not up to Life of Pi standards, they were lifelike enough in appearance at the time to pass as believable in Gladiator. Scott and his crew might have used more of the VFX tigers than they had intended to since much of the actual tiger footage in the film features them standing or not moving around very much. The complications of having live tigers on a movie set are obviously vast, but one of them might have actually been that the real-life tigers were unmotivated and hard to direct. This likely resulted in more of a reliance on the VFX tigers in Gladiator, which could have been much more vicious and terrifying.

In a 2020 interview with Comicbook.com, Gladiator producer Doug Wick joked about Scott's initial requests for rhinos to be in the original film and how if there were ever a sequel, he would get him a CGI rhino. Considering that Wick is producing Gladiator 2, there is certainly a great chance that Wick will make good on his promise and allow Scott to have a rhino in the highly-anticipated sequel. With more than twenty years of experience and classics like American Gangster and The Martian under his belt since Gladiator, it only seems right that the celebrated director finally sees his CGI rhino wish come true.

https://screenrant.com/gladiator-tiger-battle-replaced-expensive-cgi-rhinos/

[𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯]

More storyboards and Ridleygrams from the Gladiator Rhino scene:

Looks like this would have been in the Moroccan area.

[Ingwar]

1:29 about rhino.