The Gladiator star Russell Crowe has revealed that he joined the Ridley Scott film based on what it could become, and not by what it was initially on paper. “Gladiator was a unique experience because the script that they had was so bad — it was just so bad,” the Oscarwinning actor said in an interview.
“The producer did not know I was able to already get a copy, but the thing he said was, ‘I don’t want to send you the document we have because you won’t respond to it. But I want to encourage you to have a meeting with (director) Ridley Scott. And here’s the thing I want you to think about: It’s 180 A.D. You’re a Roman general. And you’re being directed by Ridley Scott’,” the veteran actor added.
Crowe further agreed to the meeting and said he was blown away by Scott, who laid out his vision for the film. “We just clicked on that first meeting. There was definitely a little bit of a risk involved with it at the time,” he added.
Not having much confidence in the picture on day one of production, Crowe said that by the time the film wrapped, he knew they had done something special. “The collective energy of that cast was fantastic,” he said.
Gladiator won the Best Picture and Best Actor award at the Oscars and collected $460 million at the box office worldwide.