Ridley Scott clarifies comments about “Gladiator III ”plans: 'Have we got it yet? Not really'
"People say, have you got [a third film]? And I say, 'Of course,'" Scott tells EW.
With Gladiator II about to hit theaters, Ridley Scott is already thinking about continuing the franchise — but plans for a third film aren't quite ready for the arena yet.
"People say, 'Have you got [a third film]?' And I say, 'Of course.' That's the knee-jerk answer. Have we got it yet? Not really," he tells Entertainment Weekly for our Gladiator II cover story. "I mean, of course, I was thinking about it even when I was doing Gladiator II on the basis of who will survive. It is better if there's a survivor."
His comments further clarify what Scott recently told France’s Premiere magazine, where he admitted he was "toying with the idea" of making a Gladiator III.
"No, seriously! I’ve lit the fuse,” Scott told the outlet. “The ending of Gladiator II is reminiscent of The Godfather, with Michael Corleone finding himself with a job he didn’t want and wondering, ‘Now, Father, what do I do?‘ So the next [film] will be about a man who doesn’t want to be where he is.”
Related: Now entering the arena: Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal unsheathe Gladiator II
The second film follows Paul Mescal's Lucius (played by Spencer Treat Clark in the original), the son of Connie Nelson's Lucilla, who, after the events of the first film, is forced to flee Rome to escape his family's enemies. When Roman forces under the command of General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal) invade his new home, Numidia, Lucius returns to Rome to seek vengeance and fulfill his destiny.
For his part, Mescal says he hasn't had substantial conversations with Scott about a third film. "No, that's fully Ridley's chair to lift. That's his baby. But any plans that he has, I'd be very excited. To be honest, I haven't heard much from him about it, so I'd be curious," he tells EW.
For now, the actor is content to enjoy the work he, Scott, and the rest of the stacked cast and crew did on the second installment. "I learned that I love Ridley," Mescal tells EW when asked about what he took away from the experience. "I knew that before as a filmmaker, but if I could take one thing away from [this film, it] is the relationship that I have with him and the admiration that I have for him, not from just his work, but from now knowing him."
On the professional side, he says he learned that even though the scale is different on a massive film like Gladiator II — the indie darling's first such project — "if you boil it down, the job that I'm doing on say something like this versus a job like Aftersun, the same responsibilities apply to the actor."
He continues, "And I'm grateful for that because I know that territory. And if that remained consistent, I knew that the scale doesn't matter as much. And I learned that I could do it. Regardless of how the film is received, I know that I can lead a big film for a studio."
That said, he hopes audiences are, to pay homage to the iconic line in the first film, "entertained" by the sequel. "I hope that they care about the people at the center of it, and I hope they see and understand why Ridley is one of the greatest directors to ever direct and that this is, to me, one of his greatest pieces of work," Mescal says.
Related: Strength and honor! See all the photos from Entertainment Weekly's Gladiator II cover shoot
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Scott says his desire to make the sequel came down to one simple thing: “I really deeply respect people who will give me money to fulfill a dream, but every film I do, in a funny kind of way, is a dream.”
So, was it everything he dreamed of? “I think beyond…it went better than I expected.”
Gladiator II, which also stars Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, and more, hits theaters Nov 22.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.