Nearly 25 years later, 'Gladiator' director Ridley Scott revealed that Joaquin Phoenix almost backed out of his Oscar-nominated role.

Scott addressed the topic in a new interview with The New York Times, in which he was actually discussing Barry Keoghan, who had to drop out of Gladiator II. “Barry is one of the good ones, the same level as Joaquin Phoenix and Paul.

Ridley Scott had to stop Joaquin Phoenix, from dropping out of 2000 epic "Gladiator," the director said in an interview published on Thursday.

The director speaks his mind on rejected sequel ideas, Joaquin Phoenix’s plan to quit the original and working with a “fractious” Denzel Washington.

Gladiator” director Ridley Scott recently told The New York Times that Russell Crowe said Joaquin Phoenix was being “terribly unprofessional” on set when Phoenix was getting cold feet and had to be convinced to stay on the movie.

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Adan Monaghan/Paramount Pictures/Everett Collection EXCLUSIVE: Every interview Ridley Scott has done with Deadline has turned into a master class on his cinematic exercises in world creation, ranging from Alien,