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When you think of Russell Crowe‘s career, one of the first films that likely comes to mind is “Gladiator.” The epic historical drama, directed by Ridley Scott, was a critical and commercial success, winning five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Crowe, Yahoo reports. However, according to the actor, the film was almost a disaster.
In a career retrospective with Vanity Fair earlier this year, Russell Crowe shared behind-the-scenes stories of how “Gladiator” nearly went terribly wrong. He expressed doubts about the screenplay and certain elements that he believed modern audiences wouldn't buy into.
Russell Crowe said, “What I wasn't confident about with ‘Gladiator' was the world surrounding me. At the core of what we were doing was a great concept, but the script, it was rubbish, absolute rubbish. And it had all these sort of strange sequences. One of them was about chariots, you know, and how famous gladiators – and this is all true, right – used certain types of chariots and some famous gladiators had endorsement deals with products for olive oil and things like that, and that’s all true, but it’s just not going to ring right to a modern audience. They’re going to go, ‘What the fuck is all this?’”
Crowe was initially drawn to the concept of “Gladiator” but had buyer's remorse as the film approached production. He confessed that there were moments when he considered leaving the project entirely.
“The energy around what we were doing was very fractured,” Crowe admitted. “You know, I did think maybe a couple of times, ‘Maybe my best option is to just get on a plane and get out of here.'”
Fortunately, Crowe didn't abandon the film, and Ridley Scott's vision ultimately turned “Gladiator” into a cinematic classic.
