Russell Crowe has said that the makers of Gladiator II did not “understand … what made that first one special”.

In interview excerpts posted on social media by Australian radio station Triple J, Crowe said that the Gladiator sequel, which starred Paul Mescal and was released in 2024, was let down by “the people in that engine room not actually understanding what made that first one special”.

He added: “It wasn’t the pomp. It wasn’t the circumstance. It wasn’t the action. It was the moral core.”

In the first Gladiator film, directed by Ridley Scott, Crowe played Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius, who is forced to become a slave and who dies of his wounds at the end of the film. Released in 2000, Gladiator won the best picture Oscar, alongside Crowe’s win for best actor Oscar. In the sequel, also directed by Scott, Mescal plays Hanno, who is revealed to be Maximus’s son with his lover Lucilla (played by Connie Nielsen).

Crowe says he particularly objected to the idea floated during the making of the first film that Maximus’s relationship with Lucilla should have resumed. He said: “There was a daily fight on that set … to keep that moral core of the character. The amount of times that they suggested sex scenes and stuff like that for Maximus – it’s like you’re taking away his power.”

He added: “So you’re saying at the same time he had this relationship with his wife, he was fucking this other girl? What are you talking about? It’s crazy.

“The women in Europe, when [Gladiator II] started coming out, I would be at a restaurant and they’d come talk to me. It’s like: ‘Hey, it wasn’t me! I didn’t do it.’”