Ridley Scott Recalls Joaquin Phoenix Nearly Quit ‘Gladiator’

Joaquin Phoenix made his breakout performance in 2000’s Gladiator, which earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Nearly 25 years later, director Ridley Scott revealed that Phoenix nearly dropped out of the role of Commodus at the last minute, which resulted in co-star Russell Crowe calling him out.

“He was in his prince’s outfit saying, ‘I can’t do it.’ I said, ‘What?’” he recounted to The New York Times. “And Russell [Crowe] said, ‘This is terribly unprofessional.’”

Explaining how he convinced Joaquin not to quit, Scott said, “I can act as a big brother or dad. But I’m quite a friend of Joaquin’s. Gladiator was a baptism of fire for both of us in the beginning.”

The revelation comes after Phoenix reportedly stormed off the set of Todd Haynes‘ gay romance in July as filming was set to begin in Guadalajara, Mexico. Production is dead on the film, which was set to co-star Danny Ramirez.

Although Phoenix does not reprise his role for Gladiator II, which premieres Nov. 22 in theaters, he and Scott reunited on last year’s Napoleon, which starred the Oscar winner as the eponymous Bonaparte.

Gladiator II stars Paul Mescal as Lucius, who previously witnessed Maximus (portrayed in the original by Crowe) die at the hands of his uncle Commodus (Phoenix) in the first movie. Now an adult, Lucius is forced to enter the Colosseum and fight to return glory to the people of Rome.

The sequel also stars Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger and Connie Nielsen, who reprises her role as Lucius’ mother Lucilla from the original movie.