Unhinged Russell Crowe is unsettling, yet strangely enticing. And no, I don’t mean Crowe playing his character in the movie Unhinged. I’m talking about the persona he’s been channeling lately while promoting Unhinged. We first saw this on display last week when he was talking about why Unhinged should be seen in theaters, and now this creepy version of Crowe is back to troll people about Gladiator 2.
In case you’re not aware, for years there was talk about having Russell Crowe reprise his Academy Award-winning role of Maximus Decimus Meridius in Gladiator 2, which would be complicated given how things… ended for that character in the original 2000 movie. Anyways, here’s how Crowe addressed the sequel during his latest promotional push for Unhinged:
What a tease! Alas, the only reason Russell Crowe held out that gladiatorial helmet at the beginning of the video he shared on Instagram was to lure us into a false sense of security and then fill our heads with some terrifying thoughts. Then he swiftly cut the tension with “So nothing’s new” and jovially set he’d see people in cinemas. So yeah, if Crowe ends up attending a public screening of Unhinged, best of luck to the person who’s seated next to him.
Going back to Gladiator (and obviously SPOILERS ahead), Russell Crowe’s Maximus dies at the end, so one wouldn’t be faulted for thinking this means he couldn’t come back. However, as he revealed earlier this month, Crowe learned from producer Douglas Wick that the plan was for Maximus to be resurrected in a Jesus Christ-like manner. In another Gladiator 2 draft, the body of a dying warrior being used a portal would have been the way Maximus would have returned, but either way, the ‘Maximus rising from the dead’ boat has appears to have sailed off.
That’s not to say that Gladiator 2 is off the table entirely though. As of late 2018, director Ridley Scott and writer Peter Craig have been working on a follow-up that would be set approximately three decades after Gladiator and follow Lucius Verus, the son of Connie Nielsen’s Lucilla, who was played by Spencer Treat Clark. However, this particular Gladiator 2 hasn’t gotten the official green light yet, though if it does, we’ll definitely let you know.
As for Unhinged, the movie follows Russell Crowe as Tom Cooper, a mentally unstable man who stalks and terrorizes a single mother named Rachel Hunter after she confronts him during a road rage incident. Derrick Borte directed the picture, and Crowe’s costars include Caren Pistorius, Gabriel Bateman, Jimmi Simpson and Austin P. McKenzie, among others.
Unhinged is now playing in theaters, and be sure to read CinemaBlend’s review of the movie. If you’re curious about what other movies are supposed to come out later this year, scan through our 2020 release schedule.
