The movie Ridley Scott calls his "most complete and personal film"

Credit: Alamy

Ridley Scott has been editing ‘Gladiator 2’ footage

Wed 8 November 2023 10:45, UK

English filmmaker Ridley Scott captured 90 minutes of footage on the set of Gladiator 2 before the Hollywood strikes shut down production, which he is currently editing.

The SAG-AFTRA strike has been ongoing since July 14th, meaning that the shooting was forced to come to a pause. Yet, in the meantime, he has been editing footage from the upcoming film, including a scene where Paul Mescal’s character is fighting a set of baboons.

The Irish actor stars in the leading role as the hero, Lucius, the nephew of Joaquin Phoenix’s character from the original Gladiator. In the footage captured for Gladiator 2, Mescal must defend himself against a pack of baboons, inspired by a video Scott saw online of tourists being attacked by the creatures in Johannesburg.

He told the New Yorker, “Baboons are carnivores. Can you hang from that roof for two hours by your left leg? No! A baboon can.”

The movie also stars Denzel Washington, Derek Jacobi, Connie Nielsen, Pedro Pascal and Joseph Quinn. Scott’s latest project has been in development for years, although production won’t be completed until the strikes come to an end.

Gladiator 2 is expected to be released on November 22nd, 2024. It comes almost 25 years after the original movie, which was the second-highest-grossing film of 2000. It subsequently won ‘Best Picture’ at the Academy Awards.

Russell Crowe, who won ‘Best Actor’ for his performance as Commodus, has involvement in the sequel. “They should be fucking paying me for the number of questions I get asked about the fucking film that I am not even in,” Crowe said at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic in July. “I don’t know anything about the cast; I don’t know anything about the plot.”

“In that world, I’m dead, six feet under. And that’s that,” Crowe added. “I couldn’t think of that movie being less than absolutely spectacular.”