Ridley Scott Planning a ‘Gladiator 3’: “There’s Already an Idea”
It took Ridley Scott 20 years to return to the Roman Colosseum with Gladiator II, but he is already plotting his third trip to ancient Rome.
“I’d rather get on into Gladiator III,” Scott told The Hollywood Reporter Thursday when asked about a different potential next project for the 86-year-old filmmaker. “There’s already an idea.” He added that he’s taking inspiration from The Godfather Part II for the next story.
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The Gladiator 3 news first trickled out Friday after the French publication Premiere published similar comments from Scott.
Gladiator II opens Nov. 22 and arrives 20 years after Scott’s Gladiator, which won five Oscars, including best picture and best actor for Russell Crowe. Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn and Connie Nielsen star in the new film.
Scott remains one of the most prolific directors working in Hollywood, a filmmaker who at times release two films in a single year. His next film is slated to be a Bee Gees biopic at Paramount that counts Gladiator scribe John Logan as a writer, along with Joe Penhall. He expects to go into production next year in London and Miami.
In a bit of irony, filmmaker Roland Emmerich recently said that season two of his gladiator TV show Those About to Die will take inspiration from Godfather II. Emmerich is interested in the 1974 classic’s use flashbacks, while Scott is more interested in exploring similar themes to that film in Gladiator 3. Both Emmerich’s TV series and the first Gladiator movie used the same source material — the Daniel P. Mannix novel Those About to Die.
As for Gladiator II, Scott is feeling confident. “It is possibly even more extraordinary than the first,” Scott said in April at Cinemacon, where he unveiled the first footage.
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