Ridley Scott puts the cart before the horse: as the long-awaited sequel to Gladiator has not even been released in the United States, its director has already announced that he is at work on a third opus, 24 years after the release of the first, which was crowned with five Oscars.
Gladiator 2 is released Friday in the United States with headliner Paul Mescal, Irish actor revealed in the series Normal peoplein the role of Lucius, son of Maximus (the gladiator from the first film, who won the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor, and played by Russell Crowe).
A success that calls for others?
The blockbuster with its bloody plot and fueled by the hero's thirst for revenge has attracted relatively good reviews and has already accumulated $87 million in box office revenue in the countries where it was released last week.
“Given the performances in the rest of the world since yesterday, there will for sure be a Gladiator 3 », So affirmed the filmmaker, during the American premiere, Monday November 18, 2024, in Los Angeles, adding that “as it becomes so financial, it would be crazy not to consider it”.
The screenplay for the second opus was “planned to leave ample room for the possibility of a sequel,” explains the British director of Blade Runner or Thelma et Louise who, at almost 87 years old, has already directed 18 films since the release, in 2000, of the first Gladiator.
“A political sphere close to Coppola’s “Godfather””
Paul Mescal enthused about the possibility of starring in a third film, indicating that Ridley Scott had discussed a new direction for the plot that wouldn't “just bring it back to the arena as we've seen it” so far .
“The last time I spoke to Ridley Scott, he had nine pages. Yesterday he said he had 14,” the actor told an audience of journalists. “I would be delighted if it went into a more political sphere, with Lucius thrown into the pit of court intrigues that he would try to escape, like Michael Corleone in The Godfather ».
Donald Trump in reference
Asked about the differences between the first and second parts in the way they approach questions of power and politics, the director smiles: “a very rich man thinks he can simply seize the reins of the empire… Does that mean anything to you? », he asks less than two weeks after the election of Republican billionaire Donald Trump to the White House.
Notre dossier « Ridley Scott »
“We learn nothing from History, we only repeat the same mistakes,” he noted, adding: “and we are experiencing the same thing in several places on the planet at the moment! “.
