CINEMA NEWS – The big Hollywood actors’ strike is over, the profession, including director Ridley Scott, is breathing a sigh of relief, because they can finally continue shooting the new Gladiator movie. “Thank God it’s over, we have a few more weeks to shoot,” he told Deadline. “We’ve already shot ninety minutes, at least that’s all we’ve got.” We have another ninety minutes to go.”

No wonder Scott was relieved. The new film, which is a sequel to the 2000 Oscar winner Gladiator, faced serious difficulties in addition to the actors’ strike. The crew was accused of cruelty to animals (especially horses and primates) on set, and there was also a fire in which six employees were injured, two of whom had to be taken to the hospital. A significant part of the production was filmed in Malta again, as in the case of the first part – it is memorable that one of the important characters, Oliver Reed, suffered a heart attack in a Maltese pub when he had a drinking contest with the sailors of an American warship; in his unfilmed scenes, he was replaced by computer tricks after that. The current filming in Malta was thanked by the local government by giving the production a tax refund of 50 million dollars, which provoked protests from the municipalities concerned.

The plot of the new Gladiator movie takes place long after the story of the first part, the grown-up Lucius (Paul Mescal), played by Joaqiun Phoenix in the first part It shows the adventures of Emperor Commodus’ nephew. The star parade is guaranteed by actors such as Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger and Pedro Pascal.

(Gladiator 2 – domestic release: November 21, 2024.)

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