Gladiator star, Russell Crowe , recently opened up in an interview with TODAY , about some residual guilt that he has been harboring over the film since re-watching it.
He believes that he didn’t deserve as much recognition for it as he ultimately received, and thinks that fans should give credit where credit is due.
RELATED STORIES
Definitely a hot take. What do you think?
First of all, if you haven’t seen the movie *Gladiator*, I suggest you get on that. It’s easily one of the most epic historical fiction films of our time.
The 2000 movie stars Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Richard Harris, Derek Jacobi, and of course, Russell Crowe .
If you weren’t sold on the cast, the storyline will have you hooked!
Set in the era of the Roman empire, the story is about a general who gets taken over, demoted, and reduced to slavery after his father is murdered.
Ultimately, he ends up being forced to become a common gladiator, and fight to avenge his father’s death and take back his rightful position.
So, there you have it. Case and point. This one is a classic!
If you haven’t watched it, make sure you do now.
Anyway, the star of the film, Russell Crowe, recently spoke out in an interview with *TODAY*, admitting he feels some guilt over the film.
In case you didn’t know, Russell received a ton of attention and praise for his role in the film, and even landed himself an Oscar.
He took home the award for Best Actor Academy Award for his role as Maximus Decimus Meridius in the Ridley Scott movie, which also happened to win Best Picture.
However, Russell feels that Ridley Scott deserved more recognition.
I know. A bold claim.
“It’s funny because some days it feels so close,” he said of the film.
“And other days it feels like another lifetime altogether,” he added , revealing that he recently re-watched the movie while he was in Rome.
He explained that being apart of such an iconic movie and role has been a very humbling experience for him and his career.
“It was a humbling experience, man, because I’m watching it and so much changed in my life. I got so many pats on the back,” he said .
“And, you know, I got some big awards and all that, and obviously that sort of stepped me up to a different level for quite some time.”
He explained that after re-watching it, it really set in that Ridley was the one who deserved all of the positive attention that he, instead, received.
He said that Ridley was the real mastermind behind the film and its success.
“But I watched that movie, and it’s a director’s film,” he said . “It was one of those moments of, ‘Why did I get all the attention?'”
“When really the Academy Award belongs to Ridley Scott?,’” he went on.
He also revealed that the original script of the movie was lackluster, and far from the impressive final draft.
I truly wonder what the original script looked like. It must have been something interesting to read!
“It was just so bad.”
“ Gladiator was a unique experience because the script that they had was so bad,” he admitted, explaining that the producer of the movie didn’t know that he had read a copy of it already .
I know. It’s wild to think the movie didn’t have a great script to begin with. “The producer didn’t know I’d actually already been able to get a copy,” he said.
“But the thing he said is ‘I don’t want to send you the document we have, because you won’t respond to it’.”
But by the end, he explained that Ridley “was so prepared”.
“And the things he was showing me and the visual images and the mathematics of how he was going to not have to build an entire Colosseum yet still shoot the Colosseum .”
“And we just clicked on that first meeting.”
Let us know what you think of Russell Crowe’s recent comments regarding the guilt he feels about all the attention he received over his role in the movie Gladiator , in the comments below!
