By A few weeks back filmmaker indicated that there were no plans for an director’s cut of “Gladiator II” currently in cinemas as he had final cut on the movie.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t room for an extended edition though. The film’s current 148-minute runtime cut out a lot of material according to Scott who told THR the other week that his first cut ran 220 minutes.
He also seemingly teased that an extended cut might some day be released, but it will depend on the work that needs to be done on a third film which he’s already started writing.
The filmmaker has popped out extended or director’s cuts of numerous films of his – some have changed the films to great extent and made them better such as with “Kingdom of Heaven” and “Legend,” others like “Napoleon” or “Robin Hood” made little difference.
Scott also tells the trade that there is a very specific historical theory as to why the Emperors in both his “Gladiator” films are decidedly unhinged – lead poisoning.
The wealthy Roman aristocracy lived on water “piped through lead pipes and lead tanks”. Scott says: “People don’t think about that. Your choice is water or wine. When you drink water, it’s though a lead system that by then could be 200 years old. No wonder they’re f—ing crazy. They’re all going halfway to Alzheimer’s.”
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