Denzel Washington has revealed that he embraced Ancient Rome’s inclusive attitude towards homosexuality for Gladiator II with a gay kiss, but it got cut from the final edit.
For all its gruff masculinity, and brutal, classically heterosexual violence, Gladiator II is crammed full of homoeroticism.
The first inkling that Ridley Scott’s blockbuster sequel would be a little fruity came with the casting announcement in early 2023: Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal, two of Gay Twitter’s biggest crushes, were to sweat it out in skimpy loincloths. We wonder how many people put a note in their diary right then as a reminder to book tickets.
Mescal plays Lucius Verus, a captive gladiator and son of the original film’s Maximus and Lucilla, opposite Pascal’s Marcus Acacius, a Roman general who’s partly responsible for that enslavement. As such, they come face-to-face with each other’s swords on more than one occasion.
If the fact of their scantily clad tussling wasn’t enough, the pair even enjoyed a little kiss but that moment ended up on the cutting-room floor.
However, it turns out that the film could’ve been even gayer, because that smooch wasn’t the only homoerotic moment not to make it to our screens.
According to Fences star Washington, who plays one of the film’s cruellest tyrants Macrinus, there was a moment where he had to go in for a gay kiss.
“I actually kissed a man in the film but they took [it] out. I think they got chicken,” he told Gayety recently.
“I kissed a guy full on the lips and I guess they weren’t ready for that yet. I killed them about five minutes later, but… it’s Gladiator. The kiss of death.”
Macrinus hints that he is happy to sample all of Ancient Rome’s finest delicacies, male and female, and director Scott recently told The New York Times that there was at least a “twinkle” of the character’s bisexuality on show in the film.
In addition to that bisexuality, and Pascal and Mescal’s bare biceps, emperors Geta and Caracalla are more camp soap-opera villains that ruthless rulers, while Matt Lucas’ appearance as the colosseum’s androgynous master of ceremonies inches the dial up another notch.
So, while Ancient Rome’s tolerance of the gays and theys isn’t exactly explored in Gladiator IIit’s a start. In addition, Gladiator III is already in the works. So anything’s possible.
Gladiator II is in cinemas from Friday (15 November).
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