Crowe Stays Mostly Dead For 'Gladiator' Sequel

Posted Wednesday, June 26, 2002 at 3:40 PM Central

by John Couture

Many people thought that Russell Crowe was Gladiator and that doing a second movie without him would be foolish, perhaps even down right absurd. Of course, the producers of the original movie don't feel that way.

The problem is that Crowe's character Maximus dies valiantly at the end of the original movie. And while many have said that a prequel movie that chronicled Maximus' rise to power in the Roman army would be a logical solution, again, the producers don't buy it.

In fact, the hot word out of Hollywood says that Dreamworks and Universal have a movie idea that's set 15 years after the death of Maximus. Although, the movie makers did hedge their bet a little by confirming that they hoped to work in a cameo by the long dead Gladiator.

Maybe death wasn't so permanent back in the days of the Ancient Roman Empire...