Russell Crowe: ‘They should be fucking paid by me’ to be constantly quizzed on ‘Gladiator 2’

Russell Crowe wants to clarify something very clear: he is not in “Gladiator 2”.

Picking up two decades after the events of the Oscar-winning classic, Ridley Scott’s upcoming sequel will star Paul Mescal as an up-and-coming member of Rome’s ruling class. Crowe will not be reprising his iconic role as Maximus, who died at the end of the first film. But that hasn’t stopped people from asking him about the film.

At the press conference at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival (via Variety), Crowe complained about how much time he spends answering questions about a film he’s not involved with.

“They should fucking pay me for the amount of questions I get asked about a movie I’m not even in,” said Crowe. “He has nothing to do with me. In that world, I am dead. Six feet below. But I admit to a certain tinge of jealousy, because it reminds me of when I was younger and what that meant to me, in my life.

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He continued, “I don’t know anything about the cast, I don’t know anything about the storyline. I’m dead! But I know that if Ridley decided to do a second part of the story, over 20 years later, he must have had very strong reasons. I can’t think of this movie as anything but spectacular.

This isn’t the first time Crowe has publicly distanced himself from “Gladiator 2.” In another recent interview, he wished the cast and creative team good luck, but explained that the film doesn’t involve his character.

“I’m sure they’re going to want to ask me something sooner or later, but they haven’t come up with anything in a while,” Crowe said. “It’s an extension of the narrative, but it goes way beyond Massimo’s death, so it doesn’t involve me at all. I hear young Paul is a good boy and I wish him the best of luck. I think where are they picking up the story, a young Lucius, stepping into the role of emperor. I think it’s a very clever idea in the world of film that we’ve created.