A long time ago Nick Cave was hired to pen a script for Gladiator 2, a follow up to the very successful Russell Crowe-starring film. Of course, things didn’t exactly pan out but thanks to a recent interview on the “WTF with Marc Maron” podcast, we have some details on what the story involved and what we may have seen if Cave’s script had been accepted.
According to the writer, Crowe called him up and asked if he wanted to write a sequel to Gladiator. You can check out Cave’s exact quote below:
“Crowe eventually, rang me up and asked if I wanted to write ‘Gladiator 2’ (laughs) and for someone who had only written one film script [“Ghosts… of the Civil Dead”], it was quite an ask.” Cave then asked, “Hey Russell, didn’t you die in ‘Gladiator 1’?” Crowe replied, “Yeah, you sort that out.”
How did Cave sort it out you ask? Well, he made Crowe’s character, Maximus, into an immortal of sorts who is resurrected. As Cave explains:
“Maximus goes down to purgatory and is sent down by the gods, who are dying in heaven because there’s this one god, there’s this Christ character, down on Earth who is gaining popularity and so the many gods are dying so they send Gladiator back to kill Christ and his followers.”
If you’re not scratching your head yet, keep reading. Cave also wanted to include an epic plot twist, which goes something like this:
“The main guy was his son so he has to kill his son and he was tricked by the gods. He becomes this eternal warrior and it ends with this 20 minute war scene which follows all the wars in history, right up to Vietnam and all that sort of stuff and it was wild.”
Oh ya, and Cave wanted to call the film Christ Killer and end it with a scene that takes place in a men’s bathroom at, get this, the Pentagon.
The reason for Cave’s script getting dumped is still unclear. I mean, aside from the fact that it was just a horrible idea, some reports say that Crowe didn’t like it and others say that the producers wouldn’t accept it. Whatever the reason is, there’s no way in hell that Cave’s script would have been used for a sequel to a major blockbuster like Gladiator.
If you’re so inclined to check out this wild script for Gladiator 2, you can do so below. Once you’ve given it a read, tell us, what do you think of Cave’s wild ideas?
