Denzel Washington revealed that the scene where he kissed another man in “Gladiator II” was deleted.
During an interview to promote “Gladiator II”, in which he plays the formidable trader Macrinus, Denzel Washington indulged in some secrets behind the scenes of Ridley Scott's film. The actor notably revealed to Gayety that a scene where he exchanged a kiss with another man had been cut during editing.
“I kissed a man in the movie, but they took that scene out. I guess they’re not ready for that,” the actor explained. He added that he killed the character “about five minutes later.” “Hey, you gotta stay ahead of the curve. It's “Gladiator.” It’s the kiss of death,” he joked.
This kiss is not the only one to have been deleted: Paul Mescal also said that an improvised scene, in which he kisses Pedro Pascal on the forehead, had been removed from the film. “I did it in one of the takes, and then we sent the radio messages to Ridley, and I said, 'Ridley, kiss on the forehead, did you like it? Yes or no?'” he told Entertainment Weekly. The director's response was quick: “There was radio silence for a second. His radio crackled and [Ridley] said: 'I'm afraid so'.
Furthermore, Denzel Washington suggested that the director of the third part of “Black Panther”, Ryan Coogler, was considering writing him a role for his next film, while confirming that he was soon considering retiring from filmmaking.
