“Gladiator II” director Ridley Scott pushed back against reports that a same-sex kiss shared between one of the movie’s stars, Denzel Washington, and another actor was left on the cutting room floor.
“No, that’s bull****,” Scott told a Variety reporter Monday night at the “Gladiator II” premiere in Hollywood. The director clarified, “They never did. They acted the moment — it didn’t happen.”
Washington also appeared to walk back his original statement, saying at the same premiere that the kiss was just a “peck” on the lips.
“It really is much ado about nothing,” the actor said. “They’re making more of it than it was. I kissed him on his hands, I gave him a peck and I killed him.”
The alleged kiss made headlines last week in anticipation of the action drama’s debut on November 22. It was mentioned during an interview Washington did for the publication Gayety in response to the interviewer asking, “How gay is the Roman empire?”
“I actually kissed a man in the film but they took it out, they cut it, I think they got chicken,” the actor replied. “I kissed a guy full on the lips and I guess they weren’t ready for that yet. I killed him about five minutes later. It’s ‘Gladiator.’ It’s the kiss of death.”
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Scott had previously confirmed that Washington’s character, the wealthy Roman businessman Macrinus, had a “twinkle” of bisexuality.
“Also, he’s a gangster,” the director continued. “I think he was clearly a prisoner of war, went to the ring, earned his freedom, suddenly working in a giant bread factory and supplied bread for the Roman army. He maybe eventually took that over, then goes to munitions, so he’s an arms dealer. I thought that was his evolution. He said, ‘Oh, I like that. I’m a gangster.’”
There was an unscripted kiss on the forehead between two male actors, Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal, which Scott said didn’t make the theatrical release, but may be included in the director’s cut.
“Gladiator II,” the follow-up to the five-time Academy Award-winning historical epic from 2000, is already generating Oscar buzz, specifically for Washington.
