Russell Crowe would like everyone to kindly stop asking him about Gladiator 2, a movie he is not in, knows little about, and kind of bums him out. Answering questions at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, where he’s accepting an award for outstanding contribution to world cinema, Crowe told the crowd, “They should be fucking paying me for the amount of questions I am asked about a film I am not even in.†Per Variety, Crowe continued, “It has nothing to do with me. In that world, I am dead. Six feet under. But I do admit to a certain tinge of jealousy, because it reminds me of when I was younger and what it meant for me, in my life.â€
Once again, for the people in the back, Crowe insisted, “I don’t know anything about the cast, I don’t know anything about the plot. I am dead!†He then graciously added, “But I know that if Ridley has decided to do a second part of the story, over 20 years later, he must have had very strong reasons. I can’t think of this movie being anything other than spectacular.†The sequel to 2000’s Gladiator has been in development for several years. Its cast so far includes Pedro Pascal and Paul Mescal, who is probably very open to questions about his shiny new muscles. Just leave Russell Crowe out of it!