The Latest Breaking News from Russell Crowe

Director says Crowe wanted to return for sequel, even though his character dies in original film

Director Sir Ridley Scott has revealed Russell Crowe wanted his 'Gladiator' character Maximus to come back from the dead so he could star in a sequel despite being killed off at the end of the 2000 original.

The belated sequel stars Paul Mescal as Lucius, the son of Russell Crowe’s slain Roman soldier Maximus

Tapping into just the kind of bloodlust that thrills in ancient Rome, Ridley Scott’s violent, spectacular sequel so resembles the original it could be a remake

Film and TV have a slippery relationship with the truth when it comes to historical epics. So spare a thought for the historical experts whose advice often goes unheeded

Ridley Scott’s sequel is certainly long awaited, but does it match up to the original, who will get an Oscar nod, what’s in a kiss and were you not entertained?

STATE OF THE ARTS: Critics have generally been kind to the eagerly anticipated sequel to the Oscar-winning 2000 blockbuster. But these critics are wrong, insists Patrick Smith. It’s a rushed, poorly acted quasi-remake from which only Denzel Washington and a well-dressed monkey emerge unscathed. What was Ridley Scott thinking?

Get the popcorn out! Two big blockbusters hit cinemas this week: the warm and cuddly Paddington III and the big and muscly Gladiator II. Much like the Barbenheimer face-off of summer 2023, behold now the winter of Gladdington 2024.

“I will not be your instrument in this life or the next,” utters Paul Mescal’s Lucius halfway through Ridley Scott’s sequel to his 2000 blockbuster, Gladiator. These words are far from an isolated nod to iconic moments in that original film, but one of a litany of rehashed moments which…