Gladiator
Summary
Gladiatordirector Ridley Scott has revealed his very dissimilar take on Joaquin Phoenix ’s villainous Commodus 23 age after the movie was first released . Earning Phoenix a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the 73rd Annual Academy Awards , Gladiatormarked the first collaborationism between the celebrate actor and Scott , who would later beg him to asterisk in his latest historic epic poem , Napoleon . In the pair ’s first collaboration , however , Phoenix played the power - hungry boy of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius , who murdered his father to secure his claim to rule .
Despite being depicted as a remorseless and sociopathic despot , Scott offered a more sympathetic take on the eccentric during a recent interview withDeadline . He claim that , much like Russell Crowe ’s Maximus , Commodus was also a dupe who was snitch and abandon by his father long before institutionalise his treasonous act of regicide . While explaining that Commodus ’ activeness were the result of his male parent ’s action and misdeed , he suggests that Phoenix ’s character was actually “ the most sympathetic character of all . ”Check out his explanation below :
I saw [ Commodus ] as the most large-hearted role of all , inGladiator . He was a product of neglect , full neglect of a founding father that he adored . Then in the end in the motion picture , the father would say , I ’m going to neglect you even further . You will not be the prince of Rome . And then the father realizes in his old eld that he needs some form of absolute . So he does something fatal . He kneels before the son ask for forgiveness . That was fatal because the boy has never seen his sire ask for that kind of near give-and-take . So he stifle him . So from that minute on , I think Joaquin was the most likable person during the movie . What he did and what fall out , what number out of it , the nature of it had been created by his father …
Commodus was the neglected son , the product of complete nonperformance . And then to be told , you ca n’t follow me , and here is who will take my place ? That is more than a slap in the head . It ’s terrible . And in those days , particularly when succession was so righteous and expect …
Maximus and Commodus [ were both dupe ] . Do n’t draw a blank , Maximus is the person who did n’t want it . He want to go home .
Will Gladiator 2’s Emperor Caracalla Live Up To Phoenix’s Villainous Commodus?
Set decades after the events of the originalGladiator , neither Crowe ’s Maximus nor Phoenix ’s Commodus will come out in the upcoming continuation . Instead , the write up is reportedly prepare to focus on Commodus ’ nephew Lucius , now a full - grow man played by Paul Mescal . IfGladiator ’s substantial - aliveness Roman historyis any indication , carbon monoxide gas - Emperor Caracalla ( played byStranger Things’Joseph Quinn ) seems the most potential candidate to fulfil that role .
Gladiator 2will feature the return of Connie Nielsen as Lucilla and Derek Jacobi as Senator Gracchus .
identify as co - Emperor with his younger chum Geta ( Fred Hechinger ) following the end of their forefather , Emperor Septimius Severus , the siblings ' joint rulership was one marked by jealousy , extreme paranoia , and on-going hostilities that almost result in the Roman Empire being separate in half . After just two days , however , Caracalla orchestrated his brother ’s murder and ordered the barbarous slaughter of chiliad of his supporters . Caracalla even banned his Geta ’s name from being spoken under threat of punishment of death and sought to delete all traces of his existence from the annals of history .
Ironically , similar to the originalGladiator’sCommodus , Emperor Septimius Severus ' decision became consequential and lead to Caracalla ’s tyrannical path . Whether Scott elects to portray Quinn ’s character in a exchangeable sympathetic sparkle remains to be seen . If Scott intend to dumbfound close to the original story , this background will provide a fascinating scenario that can place Mescal ’s Lucius and potentially pit him against Caracalla ’s own sociopathic pattern inthe upcomingGladiator 2 .
Cast
rootage : Deadline
