Production on the Gladiator sequel has been plunged into chaos following a reported on-set explosion.
Six crew members working on Sir Ridley Scott's follow up to his 2000 historical epic film were apparently rushed to hospital after being caught up in a blaze when a fireball exploded on the set of the blockbuster movie.
Stars including Normal People actor Paul Mescal and Oscar winner Denzel Washington were allegedly around when the incident took place in the Sahara desert in Morocco and "watched on in horror".
"It was terrifying — a huge ball of fire flew up and caught several crew members in its path," a source said on Thursday.
"In years of filming I’ve never seen an accident so scary."
The insider added to The Sun how six production staff had to be rushed to hospital for treatment and described the incident as "a serious accident".
"Everyone involved, from the lowliest runners to the star names, has been shaken up by this," the source went on to tell the publication.
The Mirror has approached representatives for the movie for comment on this story.
Alongside Mescal and Washington, The Last of Us star Pedro Pascal and Irish actor Barry Keoghan - who was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar this year - will also appear in the hotly-anticipated film.
Prior to the on-set incident, Gladiator 2 was scheduled to hit cinemas in November this year.
Russell Crowe won a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Maximus Decimus Meridius in Gladitor back in 2000, but the Australian star very almost didn't passed on the movie that launched his Hollywood career.
"At the core of what we were doing was a great concept, but the script was absolute rubbish. It had all sorts of strange sequences," Crowe said of the original Gladiator script earlier this year.
"The audience are gonna go, "What the f**k is this?". The energy around what we were doing was very fractured."
Crowe went on to tell Variety how director Ridley Scott managed to convince him otherwise - with the 85-year-old promising Crowe they wouldn't film anything the actor didn't believe in.
Speaking on a podcast in January, Crowe explained he wouldn't be appearing in the Gladiator sequel but shared a bit of information about the plot.
"So that young kid has grown up, and he’s now the Emperor. I don’t know what else happens at that point, so that’s the idea. So it’s not a remake. And it’s not a direct sequel," he told the Fitzy and Wippa breakfast show hosts.
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