Ridley Scott considers Gladiator II to be one of his best films

“I did some good things though…”

Alien, Blade Runner, Kingdom of Heaven, Thelma and Louise, American Gangsteretc. Although all are great films, they will be nothing compared to Gladiator II. Twenty-four years after the millennium epic, Ridley Scott hopes to make a triumphant return, crowned with laurels and living up to the public's expectations. Convinced of this himself, it is with great humility that he declared to the magazine Empire which dedicates its next issue to this sequel, that his last feature film was by far his best film:

“It's the best thing I've ever done. Well, one of the best things, I've done some good stuff though.”

Bigger than the Gladiator original ? “It's brutal action that goes at 100 miles an hour.“, the director teases again, promising entertainment at its peak. But to surpass what he had accomplished with the previous installment, he had to look even further. For Gladiator 2Ridley Scott didn't do things by halves. He rebuilt the ancient city from scratch.

Rome wasn't built in a day, but for Ridley Scott, it was built in just a few weeks. In a new promotional video shared on social media, Joseph Quinnthe actor who played the role of Emperor Geta, admitted to having been impressed by the colossal project set up to raise Rome from the ground:

“I remember being completely amazed at how they reconstructed Ancient Rome.”

While the first opus was filmed in Italy, Gladiator II was relocated to Great Britain, Morocco and Malta – this is where we find the impressive and rather convincing sets built and filmed for the backstage. The reason for this expatriation is not voluntary and is explained by the schedule. Rome was not available at the time of filming, the locations having already been rented to Roland Emmerich and his peplum series Those About to Diefor Prime Video.

Without the Italian capital, the filmmaker had to build his own Rome. We see temples there, but also part of the Colosseum – the famous arena in front of which the character played by Joseph Quinn will watch the gladiators fight. For Vogue, The actor expressed his joy at being part of the project:

“I was well aware that films like that don't get made anymore. Pedro is so funny – he's a real morale booster – and Paul lives up to his predecessor in working extremely hard. It was exciting to try to follow them.”

Ruling with his brother Caracalla, played by Fred Hechinger, the Emperors seem insane. Facing them stands Lucius, son of Lucilla, played by Paul Mescal, captured by the Roman army and forced to become a gladiator to survive, and entertain the Emperors and the crowd.

Gladiator II will be released in theaters on November 13. Trailer: