Ridley Scott revealed that Barry Keoghan had to leave 'Gladiator II' for 'Saltburn.' Keoghan tells IndieWire what happened.

"Gladiator" director Ridley Scott recently told The New York Times (via Entertainment Weekly) that Russell Crowe told Joaquin Phoenix he was being "terribly unprofessional" on set when Phoenix was getting cold feet and had to be convinced to stay on the movie.

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

“I’ve lit the fuse,” Scott said. “The ending of ‘Gladiator II’ is reminiscent of ‘The Godfather,’ with Michael Corleone finding himself with a job he didn’t want, and wondering, ‘Now, Father, what do I do?‘ So the next [film] will be about a man who doesn’t want to be where he is.”

Gladiator' was a "baptism of fire for both of us in the beginning," Ridley Scott said of how he and Joaquin Phoenix approached making the 2000 filmAccording to director Ridley Scott, Joaquin Phoenix nearly dropped out of 2000's Gladiator.

Director Ridley Scott, in an interview with "The New York Times," confessed that Joaquin Phoenix had many doubts during the filming of "Gladiator," which drew criticism from Russell Crowe. The director of "Gladiator,

As he said he was planning to quit the project, Joaquin Phoenix was told he was being “unprofessional” by Russell Crowe on the set of ‘Gladiator’.