You’ve got to love Ridley Scott. At 83 years young, the iconic director has not one but two Oscar-contenders out this fall, with The Last Duel already in theatres and House of Gucci set for November 24th. While you might think such a flurry of activity would mean the director was going to rest up, you’d be dead wrong. Scott, speaking to Deadline, teased not only his upcoming Napoleon biopic, Kitbag (starring Joaquin Phoenix and Jodie Comer as Napoleon and Josephine) but also his long-awaited Gladiator sequel (Gladiator 2?).
Said to focus on Lucius, Commodus’ nephew (played by Spencer Treat Clark in the original), Scott revealed the script by Kitbag writer David Scarpa is complete.
“Oh, it’s been written. It’s already been written. We have a good footprint, a good, logical place to go. You can’t just do another Gladiator type movie. You’ve got to follow…there’s enough components from the first one to pick up the ball and continue it.”
He also weighed in on superhero movies, saying their big problem is that the scripts “are not any fucking good.” However, he also maintains that he directed three great superhero movies, counting Alien, Gladiator and Blade Runner, as part of that genre.
“They’re superhero movies. So, why don’t the superhero movies have better stories? Sorry. I got off the rail, but I mean, c’mon. They’re mostly saved by special effects, and that’s becoming boring for everyone who works with special effects, if you’ve got the money.”
House of Gucci is already earning raves for Lady Gaga and Jared Leto’s performances, while The Last Duel, to me anyway, has been criminally underseen. Adam Driver and Jodie Comer are Oscar-worthy, while Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are excellent too in atypical roles. It barely made a dent theatrically, but it’s coming to Blu-ray on December 14th and will hit Disney Plus in certain markets on December 1st.
Are you excited about a possible Gladiator 2?