Crowe won a Best Actor Oscar for playing the character of Maximus, who dies at the end of the 2000 original Russell Crowe doesn't return to the Colosseum in the long anticipated sequel to Gladiator — but it wasn't for a lack of trying.

Russell Crowe really wanted to be in Gladiator II, despite the obvious problem that his characters dies in the first […] The post Russell Crowe Really Wanted to Be In Gladiator II, Ridley Scott Says appeared first on MovieMaker Magazine.

Ridley Scott's Gladiator turned Russell Crowe into a next-level star. Their four subsequent movies turned him back into a character actor.