Russell Crowe was not entertained by Paul Mescals Gladiator II: Its crazy

Russell Crowe was not entertained.The actor, 61, is sharing his issue with the 2024 film “Gladiator II.”In Ridley Scott’s 2000 hit movie “Gladiator,” Crowe starred as Maximus alongside Joaquin Phoenix.

The Oscar winner had a problem with the sequel revealing that his deceased character fathered an illegitimate son (Paul Mescal) with Lucilla, played by Connie Nielsen.Crowe was not in the sequel, which follows the life of Mescal’s Lucius.“The recent sequel that we don’t have to name out loud is a really good example of, even the people in that engine room not actually understanding what made that first one special,” Crowe explained while speaking with the Australian radio station Triple J.“It wasn’t the pomp.

It wasn’t the circumstance.It wasn’t the action.

It was the moral core.”“And the thing is, there was a daily fight on that set.It was a daily fight to keep that moral core of the character,” he detailed about the first film.

“The amount of times that they suggested sex scenes and stuff like that for Maximus — it’s like, you’re taking away his power.”“So, you’re saying, at the same time he had this relationship with his wife, he was f–king this other girl? What are you talking about? It’s crazy.”In the first film, Maximus was a dedicated family man who sought revenge after the murder of his wife, (Giannina Facio), and child.Therefore, to Crowe it didn’t make sense that his character would have affairs.When “Gladiator II” debuted in November 2024, Crowe heard from disgruntled critics.“The women in Europe, when that movie started coming out, I would be at a restaurant, and they’d come talk to me [and complain],” he confessed.

“It’s like, ‘Hey, it wasn’t me! I didn’t do it.’”In 2020, Crowe got candid on having his character die in “Gladiator.” “I remember Ridley coming up to me on set saying, ‘Look, the way this is shaping up, I don’t see how you live.This character is about...