It’s hard for fans to imagine what the original Gladiator would have been like without Joaquin Phoenix, but they were almost forced to live that reality.

Famous film director Ridley Scott said in an interview that Joaquin Phoenix almost dropped out of the 2000 film Gladiator. new york timesNovember 7th. Scott said he needed to convince Phoenix to stay with the project and see it through to completion.

“He dressed up as a prince and said, ‘I can’t do this.’ I said, ‘What?'” Scott recalled. He went on to say that the film was at risk of facing major cast changes.

Scott provided further insight into how the issue unfolded at the time.

“And Russell [Crowe] “This is terribly unprofessional,” the director said, according to the New York Times.

He explained that he had to convince famous actors to stay and see the work through to the end.

“I can play the role of a big brother and a father,” he said.

“But I’m quite a friend of Joaquin’s. ‘Gladiator’ was a baptism of fire for both of us at first,” Scott continued.

Roman Emperor Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) has reason to question the loyalty of his sister Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) in Ridley Scott’s epic action drama “Gladiator” from DreamWorks Pictures and Universal Pictures. (Photo courtesy of Getty Images)

Phoenix famously played the gladiator villain Commodus, who begins the film’s plot by murdering his own father, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. “Gladiator” continued win Five Oscars, including Best Picture.

The story of Phoenix nearly dropping out of a major production years ago is similar to recent headlines reporting that Phoenix has bailed out director Todd Haynes’ untitled gay romance film for summer 2024. (Related: Brian Cox accuses Joaquin Phoenix of wild talk)

According to reports, Phoenix dropped out of the lead role in the film just five days before filming began and never returned. variety.