Denzel Washington reveals his Gladiator 2 character "actually kissed a man" in the movie, but it was cut: "I think they got chicken"
Nov. 14, 2024Macrinus shared a same-sex smooch on screen in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2, but Denzel Washington says it got cut
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Denzel Washington has revealed thatGladiator 2originally featured a scene in which his character Macrinus kissed a man, but it was cut from the movie’s final edit.
“I kissed the man in the film, but they took it [out]. They cut it, I think they got chicken. I kissed a guy full on the lips and I guess they weren’t ready for that yet,” the Academy Award winner toldGayetyin the run-up to the film’s release.
“I killed him about five minutes later. It’s Gladiator,” Washington laughed. “It’s the kiss of death.”
Directed by Ridley Scott, Gladiator 2 follows Paul Mescal’s Lucius, the son of Russell Crowe’s ill-fated Maximus from the 2000 original, as he’s taught by Washington’s Roman powerbroker to fight for his life inside the Colosseum. Macrinus is keen to overthrow young emperors Caracalla (Fred Hechinger) and Geta (Joseph Quinn), but Lucius has other things on his mind: getting revenge against General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal) and his violent soldiers after they invaded Lucius’s home, killed his wife, and forced him into slavery.
Connie Nielsen and Derek Jacobi round out the cast, reprising their roles from the first film. With a 75% score on Rotten Tomatoes, the long-awaited looks to be going down well with critics, who areclaiming Washington deserves Oscar buzzfor his “showstopping, Machiavellian” performance. Our ownGladiator 2 reviewgives the movie four stars.
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I am an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things TV and film across our Total Film and SFX sections. Elsewhere, my words have been published by the likes of Digital Spy, SciFiNow, PinkNews, FANDOM, Radio Times, and Total Film magazine.
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