Gladiator II has been under discussion since the first film’s initial success when it was released in 2000, according to director Ridley Scott. “The popularity of Gladiator just kept growing,” he explains. “The film stayed in the public’s mind. I knew we should consider a sequel, but it took years to figure out what the story was going to be.”
Producer Michael Pruss, who has been collaborating with Scott for more than a decade, adds: “The world of the Roman Empire and the unforgettable characters of Gladiator were so brilliantly crafted. Recreating that on an even grander scale [for the sequel] was a necessity. We wanted that same powerful motivation for revenge but something that was also fresh and modern and unique. It took longer than anybody anticipated, but great ideas and human drama take time to craft. Hopefully the results here speak for themselves.”
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“We knew we had to top the original’s gripping action, but also try to capture its emotional intimacy,” according to producer Lucy Fisher, who began developing the new film alongside partner Douglas Wick in 2001. “It took a long time to get a story that we thought would be worthy of being a sequel to Gladiator. But once we grabbed onto the character of Lucius [played by Paul Mescal] as an angry young man, exiled and abandoned, and committed to destroying the city that had both made and betrayed him, our story began to unfold. Lucius would be a lost prince, wanting to be anywhere but Rome, and yet all roads would lead him there.”
That, says Wick, felt like a story worth telling. “But we soon realized that one of the biggest challenges we were going to face was a dilemma the ancient Romans knew well,” he says. “The audience has seen grand combat many times over and their thirst for MORE was unquenchable. Whatever we created had to provide captivating new thrills. A true spectacle for the ages.”
In 2021, Scott approached screenwriter David Scarpa, who wrote the director’s 2017 true-crime drama All the Money in the World, to craft a compelling tale based on a story by Peter Craig (writer of Top Gun: Maverick). It is 15 years after the death of Maximus Decimus Meridius, Russell Crowe’s character in the original. Combat in the Colosseum has become more deadly, violent and spectacular as bloodthirsty crowds urge the half-mad emperors Caracalla and Geta (Fred Hechinger and Joseph Quinn, respectively) to new heights of cruelty. The Roman Empire continues its relentless march across the world, expanding its borders, pillaging every culture in its path and forcing the survivors to fight for their lives in the ring.
“I knew and loved the original,” says Scarpa. “When Ridley approached me, I was extremely excited. Gladiator is such an esteemed classic and a touchstone for historical action films. I was both honored and a little apprehensive about working with the people who created that world. Ridley has a very strong directorial voice, and his vision is central to the movie.”
Filmmakers, actors and everyone else who worked on the film are excited for movie audiences around the world to watch it. “Ridley is at the top of his game with Gladiator II,” says Wick. “Imagine coming to the movies after a tough day of work and having Ridley Scott as your tour guide to Ancient Rome. He will transport you into another world that’s vibrant, emotional, dangerous and extremely theatrical, a world full of corruption and deceit. And in his own unsentimental way, he will lead you to last vestiges of strength and honor and you will watch them prevail. It will be a unique and satisfying experience that engages all the senses, but most of all the heart.”
For Scott, one of cinema’s masters of the period picture, Gladiator II is at once specific and timeless. “This film is about the Roman Empire, obviously,” he says. “But it’s also about the way humanity never learns its lesson. We keep repeating history again and again and again.”
In cinemas December 4, Gladiator II is distributed in the Philippines by Paramount Pictures through Columbia Pictures. Connect with the hashtag #GladiatorII and tag @paramountpicsph
Photo & Video Credit: “Paramount Pictures”
