Ridley Scott and Joseph Quinn explain howGladiator 2’s evil Roman emperors compare to Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus. Serving as a sequel toGladiator, the upcoming film follows an adult Lucius, the former heir to the Roman Empire, who becomes a gladiator after his home is invaded by the Roman army, led by General Marcus Acacius, during the reign of the co-emperors Caracalla and Geta. Paul Mescal leadsGladiator 2’s castalongside Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Fred Hechinger as Emperor Caracalla, and Quinn as Emperor Geta.
In an interview withEmpire,Scott and Quinn explained howGladiator 2’s evil Roman emperors, Geta and Caracalla, compare to Phoenix’s Commodus. Quinn, speaking for Hechinger too, says that while they were inspired by Phoenix’s performance, they tried to avoid creating a poor imitation, and instead drew from other famous villainous performances, such as Gary Oldman fromThe Fifth Element. Scott says they also drew from Roman history and mythology. Read their full comments below:
Quinn: For obvious reasons, Joaquin Phoenix’s performance was something that was in our minds. It was something we had a reverence for, but we didn’t want to…. soil with some kind of poor rendition… Gary Oldman in The Fifth Element! He has this relish for being horrible.
Scott: They are probably the equivalent of Romulus and Remus. You know, the two lunatics who formed Rome but were bred from the milk of a wolf? [Caracalla and Geta] came up a different way but were probably brain-damaged.
Gladiator 2’s Roman Emperors Explained: True Story & Why There Are Two
Unlike the first movie, Gladiator 2 features two different Roman emperors. While this might seem strange, its rooted in real historical fact.
Gladiator 2’s Inspiration For Co-Emperors Caracalla & Geta Explained
They Drew From Commodus, Other Famous Villains, & Historical Figures
In the originalGladiator,Phoenix played Commodus, the ruthless and ambitious son of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who murders his father after he assigns Maximus to succeed him as regent and restore the Roman Republic. Once Emperor, Commodus seeks to consolidate power for himself and also makes incestuous advances towards his sister, Lucilla. A deeply flawed and power-hungry character,Phoenix’s performance as Commodus was highly acclaimed, earning him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
However, in theGladiator 2trailer, historians have noted that Caracalla and Geta are depicted more as Caligula, Nero, or Elagabalus figures, meaning they were also likely used as historical reference points.
Now, the sequel is raising the stakes with not one, but two twisted, antagonisticGladiator 2characters, the brothers and co-Emperors Caracalla and Geta. Still,the obvious reference point for Quinn and Hechinger’s evil co-Emperors was Phoenix’s performance. However, they tried not to create simply a poor imitation of Phoenix’s Commodus, so they decided to draw from various other famous villainous performances, including Gary Oldman fromThe Fifth Element, but also Philip Seymour Hoffman fromMission: Impossible III.
For the twisted twins,Scott says they also took inspiration from Roman history and mythology. This obviously includes their real historical counterparts, but also Romulus and Remus from Roman mythology. However, in theGladiator 2trailer, historians have noted that Caracalla and Geta are depicted more as Caligula, Nero, or Elagabalus figures, meaning they were also likely used as historical reference points. In Caracalla and Geta,Gladiator 2appears to have created an amalgam of Commodus, other famous villains, and historical figures, so the result should be more memorably amoral antagonists.
Gladiator II
Cast
Gladiator 2 is the follow-up to Ridley Scott’s award-winning film Gladiator from 2000. Scott returns to direct the sequel, with Paul Mescal staring as Lucius, alongside Denzel Washington and Joseph Quinn as the villain Emperor Geta. Gladiator 2 had been stuck in development hell for years before a script written by David Scarpa finally moved forward.
