{"id":2055,"date":"2026-06-13T13:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T13:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2055"},"modified":"2026-06-13T13:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T13:36:12","slug":"russell-crowe-recalls-sticking-to-his-guns-about-no-sex-scenes-in-gladiator-discusses-fantastic-highlander-reboot-finding-succ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2055","title":{"rendered":"Russell Crowe Recalls \u2018Sticking to His Guns\u2019 About No Sex Scenes in \u2018Gladiator,\u2019 Discusses \u2018Fantastic\u2019 \u2018Highlander\u2019 Reboot, Finding Success on Netflix"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\nRussell Crowe proudly recalled \u201csticking to his guns\u201d about not having sex scenes with Connie Nielsen in Ridley Scott\u2019s \u201cGladiator.\u201d Speaking at the Taormina Film Festival, the New Zealand-born actor was asked about a \u201ccertain attitude\u201d he showed about the 2024 sequel to his 2000 Oscar-winning epic.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2053\">Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan Talk Season 3 of \u2018The Walking Dead: Dead City\u2019 and Maggie and Negan\u2019s Relationship: \u2018This Is Our Best Season \u2013 By Far. She Didn\u2019t Stab Me One Time!\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tCrowe dodged speaking directly about \u201cGladiator II,\u201d but he elaborated on his moral stance regarding the original film. \u201cWhen we were shooting that film, there was a lot of pressure. The studio, the producers [thought] there should be sex between Maximus and the female characters. I kept pushing back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cThis is the story of a man avenging the death of his wife and his child,\u201d he went on. \u201cThere cannot be a moment in that journey where he stops and has sex with somebody. It doesn\u2019t make any sense because that destroys the journey.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe actor said he \u201cstuck to his guns.\u201d \u201cLuckily for me, Ridley, even though he\u2019d love a sex scene between me and Connie Nielsen, agreed with me back then that that was the emotional core of the film.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cThe studio at the time didn\u2019t quite understand why,\u201d he went on. \u201cThat\u2019s the thing a lot of people don\u2019t realize: from the second week of release globally, there were always more women in the theaters than men. You think that on the surface \u2018Gladiator\u2019 is a movie for men, but if it was a movie for men, it would be about revenge, but it\u2019s not about revenge. It is a movie for women because it is about vengeance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201c[\u2018Gladiator\u2019] was successful because it had a moral core,\u201d noted the actor. \u201cIn a way, we all want to be that guy who can stay that strong, if you\u2019re a man. And if you\u2019re a woman, we all want a man to love us in that way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe actor then noted how \u201cGladiator II\u201d \u201cfailed\u201d because it lacked that moral core: \u201cFor them, in a second movie to destroy that moral centre\u2026 it\u2019s very interesting because the second movie barely took the same box office that the first movie took. That\u2019s 20 years later\u2026 When you apply how much of a change there\u2019s been on the value of a dollar, they failed. they failed because they didn\u2019t understand why it was successful \u2014 it had a moral core.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tCrowe is at the Sicilian festival on two fronts: as the recipient of the Taormina Film Festival International Achievement Award and for the world premiere of his latest, \u201cBear Country,\u201d which reunites him with \u201cUnhinged\u201d director Derrick Borte. Also starring Aaron Paul, Nina Dobrev and Luke Evans, the Australian action thriller follows Crowe\u2019s aging club owner whose dreams of retirement go awry when an armed robbery cleans out his business. Most of the film\u2019s cast is expected to attend the glitzy world premiere at the festival later this evening, taking place at Taormina\u2019s imposing Greek theater.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2051\">Gore Verbinski Says We Need a \u2018Rating System\u2019 for AI Use in Films: \u2018If You Use AI to Write a Script, You Get an F\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe actor also spoke about the impact of streaming on theatrical exhibition, recalling a direct call from Netflix, when a representative told him he had \u201cthe most number one films on Netflix for any actor who never actually worked for Netflix.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cSure, you can watch something at home and in the comfort of your lounge room, with a nice television and a good sound system,\u201d he added. \u201cBut the cinema experience, like the kind of thing we are having now, where you\u2019re sitting next to people you don\u2019t necessarily know to share an experience, we can\u2019t let that go away. That part of the experience is so very important. It\u2019s storytelling within a community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\tHe recalled being contacted by Netflix\u2019s team with the impressive stats he achieved on the platform. \u201cThey keep buying up all titles, and people would research my name or whatever,\u201d he added, saying some of the smaller films in his catalog, such as Paul Haggis\u2019s \u201cThe Next Three Days,\u201d ended up finding great success on the streamer. \u201cI can\u2019t be fully negative about it all because it\u2019s done really well for me. Part of that fun conversation with Netflix was: you now need to start working for Netflix. So I\u2019ve made a film with them, \u2018Unabomber,\u2019 that will come out in September or October.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe Oscar-winning \u201cGladiator\u201d actor also briefly spoke about another major action project he has in the pipeline: Chad Stahelski\u2019s \u201cHighlander\u201d reboot. Crowe is set to play Juan S\u00e1nchez-Villalobos Ram\u00edrez in the film, which also stars Henry Cavill as Connor MacLeod and Dave Bautista as villain Kurgan.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cI just finished the shoot of \u2018Highlander,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s an Amazon production, and it\u2019s going to be fantastic. It\u2019s by Chad Stahelski, who directed all the \u2018John Wick\u2019 movies, so you know [he] is incapable of directing a film that is not exciting.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\tLastly, Crowe briefly spoke about his recent role in \u201cNuremberg\u201d and the \u201cevil\u201d we see in the world. \u201cEvil can be charismatic,\u201d he said, before issuing an alert: \u201cThere are situations right now in the world where political leaders are doing bad things, but they\u2019re given a license and are voted in because of that charisma. Beware of that charisma.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2049\">Workers Start Pulling Trump\u2019s Name Off Kennedy Center Building in Early Morning Hours<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Russell Crowe talks &#8216;Highlander&#8217; reboot, praises Ridley Scott for backing him on his resistance to film sex scenes in &#8216;Gladiator.&#8217;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1758,1280,731],"class_list":["post-2055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-bear-country","tag-russell-crowe-2","tag-taormina-film-festival"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Russell Crowe Recalls \u2018Sticking to His Guns\u2019 About No Sex Scenes in \u2018Gladiator,\u2019 Discusses \u2018Fantastic\u2019 \u2018Highlander\u2019 Reboot, Finding Success on Netflix - 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