Yahoo Lifestyle Denzel Washington reveals he kissed a man on the lips in “Gladiator II” but it was cut: 'They weren't ready for that yet'
Paul Mescal previously revealed to Entertainment Weekly that a forehead kiss he gave Pedro Pascal was also scrapped from the film.
Denzel Washington kissed a foe and he liked it — but that doesn’t mean it made the final cut.
As Gladiator II approaches its release, Washington is answering the big picture questions about the Ridley Scott-directed film, such as, “How gay is the Roman empire?” The query was posed during the Oscar-winner’s chat with Gayety, and he swiftly took the opportunity to reveal one of many scenes that were left on the cutting room floor.
"I actually kissed a man in the film,” Washington replied. "But they took it out. They cut it. I think they got chicken… I kissed a guy full on the lips. I guess they weren’t ready for that yet.”
Aidan Monaghan
Denzel Washington in 'Gladiator II'Washington then quipped, "I killed him about five minutes later. It’s Gladiator. It’s the kiss of death."
Representatives for Ridley Scott did not immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly’s request for comment.
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Washington isn’t the only gladiator who shared a kiss with the enemy, only to have it cut from the final film. His costar Paul Mescal previously revealed to EW that he improvised an intimate moment with Pedro Pascal in the heat of battle rehearsal.
"There was a moment when we were rehearsing my fight scene with Pedro, and I had an idea towards the end of the scene to kiss Pedro on the forehead," Mescal shared. "I did it in one of the takes, and then we're getting the radio messages back to Ridley [in video village], and I was like, 'Ridley: Kiss on the forehead, did you like it? Yay or nay?'”
Mescal recalled, “There was radio silence for a second. His radio crackles back, and [Ridley] goes, 'I'm afraid I did.'" The actor cracked up while reflecting on the shoot, and added, "I think Ridley's one of the funniest men I've ever come across."
Aidan Monaghan
Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal in 'Gladiator 2'The long-anticipated sequel to Scott’s 2000 film picks up nearly two decades after the events of the first movie, following a now-grown Lucius (Mescal) making his return to Rome as a gladiator after a plundering Roman army captures him, and he must fight to survive the horrors of the arena and the dirty politics of the city. While harboring a hatred for Pascal’s General Marcus Acacius, Lucius prepares to exact revenge under the tutelage of Washington's wealthy and ruthless gladiator wrangler, Macrinus.
Teasing his role in the sword-and-sandals epic, Washington made it clear that he had a blast as the wine-drinking powerbroker. He told EW, "All he had to do is sit there and know that he's the best in the world at everything, and he thinks that, and that's fun. He really didn't have to do any heavy lifting. The boys are down there fighting, being chased by rhinos. I'm just sitting up in this tent, twirling my goblet. That's fun."
