Having been a public figure for some time, Russell Crowe has been in situations in which he’s been in proximity to emotionally charged fans. Such a situation recently happened when the Oscar-winning actor was exiting a hotel, and video of the event was captured. As can be seen in the footage, Crowe acknowledges the admirers but, before he does anything else, he also issues a warning to them. After that went viral, Crowe defended himself and explained how everything ultimately turned out during that public interaction.

Crowe was in Paris when he walked out of that hotel and was greeted by those fans. The video of his exchange with the bystanders hit the web earlier this week and showed the L.A. Confidential star quickly stopping upon seeing how many people were waiting for him. Within moments, many can be heard asking Crowe for photos and autographs. From there, Crowe gave this address to the crowd:

After that, Crowe signed autographs, though the video also shows him denying one fan’s request for him to sign as “Maximus” (Crowe’s iconic character in the Best Picture-winning Gladiator). Since the video hit the web, some have lauded Crowe for his handling of the crowd, yet the star himself still took issue with some of the headlines surrounding the situation. With that, Crowe took to X, where he reposted the video (as captured by an outlet) and called it “clickbait.” He then proceeded to explain what the Internet didn’t see:

So, while some may have been of the thinking that Russell Crowe was being rough, he seems to view it as straightforward crowd control, and I honestly agree with him. Crowe’s requests in the clip are quite reasonable and, again, those comments seem to be coming from someone who’s had a lot of experience with being mobbed in public. It’s also good to read that he was able to satisfy the fans and make his flight on time without any true hassles. So, overall, I’d say everyone seemingly came out of that situation as hoped for.

Historically, Crowe has never been one to mince words on a given topic, regardless of whether he’s talking to fans or journalists. For example, he didn’t hold back his less-than-flattering Gladiator 2 thoughts when asked for them. There was also the time Crowe weighed in on Dakota Johnson’s comments about wanting more from an acting perspective in 2024’s Madame Web. All in all, it’s easy to see that Crowe is a man who doesn’t mind being forward.

Given that last detail, it definitely tracks that Russell Crowe would take the time to shed some light on what went down during that fan encounter in Paris. Of course, considering the film work Crowe has done, I can certainly understand why he’d attract such attention. Still, actors are people, too, and boundaries are certainly important, no matter what the context is.

Remember that iconic scene of Maximus Decimus Meridius walking through a field of wheat at the beginning of Gladiator? Given it's one of the best 2000s movies , I'm guessing we're all familiar with the shot, and probably even recreated it at least once or twice while ambling around. But did you know that this legendary opening scene from the Best Picture winner wasn’t even planned and didn’t actually even feature Russell Crowe?

Gladiator is seen as one of Ridley Scott’s best movies, and the shot of Maximus grazing his hand over the top of the wheat has become a signature moment, and perfectly sets the tone for the dramatic story that unfolds. However, it was actually a happy accident that occurred after the director got onto Crowe’s body-double on the final day of shooting, as Scott told Deadline:

Wait, so Ridley Scott is telling us that the shot, seemingly of Crowe, and one that’s become instantly recognizable over the years, didn’t even involve the actor? Well, huh. Instead of an actor who was on the way to becoming one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, it was his double taking a break to have a smoke near a wheatfield when a director suddenly got a great idea.

When Scott was pressed about this revelation, the legendary filmmaker, who somehow has never won an Oscar, added some additional details to this incredible behind-the-scenes Gladiator story. This includes a tidbit about the importance of being spontaneous while on set.

The combination of the visuals and Hans Zimmer’s remarkable score not only created an unforgettable movie moment we’re still going crazy for 25 years after the movie was first released, but also set the tone for Maximus’ story of redemption that played out in the Coliseum. It’s well known that the Gladiator script went through several changes as the movie was coming together, and this small-yet-crucial alteration paid off handsomely.

Now you know the story behind how Ridley Scott (not to mention a body-double deciding to take a smoke break at possibly the best time in the history of Hollywood) led to one of the greatest opening shots of all time. You can revisit the scene and the rest of the movie now, as Gladiator is one of the best free movies streaming.

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban’s divorce was a shock because they’d been married for so long, and now, rumors are spreading about how they’re handling this breakup. Apparently, the actress is leaning on Russell Crowe during what has to be a difficult time, but that’s a rumor you should take with a grain of salt. However, it is worth noting that while this claim might not be true, Kidman and Crowe are definitely good friends.

There’s A Rumor Going Around About How Russell Crowe Is Helping Nicole Kidman Through Her Divorce

As we continue to learn about Kidman and Urban’s divorce, OK Magazine alleged that the actress has been leaning on Russell Crowe for support. According to multiple unidentified sources, the Gladiator actor has apparently been a “sounding board” for his fellow Australian actor. One source claimed that because he’s also been through a divorce (he and his ex-wife Danielle Spencer finalized their split in 2018 and share two kids), he knows exactly what his friend is going through. They claimed:

According to another source who has apparently worked with Crowe, he’s allegedly been speaking with Kidman on a daily basis. Reportedly, he’s been trying to “lift her spirits” and support her through this. They claimed:

In the months since the actress and singer’s split was announced, there have been reports about cryptic things Kidman said that could have alluded to their divorce. There have also been claims made about how it’s hard to navigate this with their daughters, and rumors spread about why this split may not have been “a secret.” Now, these allegations about Crowe can be added to the pile of rumors. However, while they are unconfirmed, it is simply a fact that the two actors really are good friends.

While The Rumors Are Unconfirmed, Russell Crowe And Nicole Kidman Are Definitely Friends

Now, along with being two of the most prominent actors from Down Under working right now, Kidman and Crowe did work together on the 2018 movie Boy Erased. However, their friendship started long before that. In fact, during an interview with Vanity Fair about that movie, she noted that they’ve been friends since they were “teenagers.”

To further prove how tight these two are, last year, when the Lioness star was honored with the AFI Life Achievement Award, the A Beautiful Mind actor shared a tribute for her, saying:

So, while the rumors about him helping her through her divorce aren’t confirmed, their history suggests that he would be there for her.

Meanwhile, while Kidman reportedly looks to Crowe for support, Urban and Jennifer Lopez have apparently been in contact amid the split. So, it would seem that both of them are speaking with people within their respective industries during this hard time.

Now, looking forward and toward things we actually know about, keep an eye on the 2026 movie schedule and the 2026 TV schedule, because both Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman have projects on the way. For Kidman specifically, that includes Practical Magic 2 and Season 3 of Lioness (which was renewed this fall). So, there’s a lot to get excited about from the longtime friends, and if we learn more about said friendship, we’ll keep you posted.

It took over 20 years for Ridley Scott to do it but, in 2024, he finally marked the release of the long-discussed Gladiator II. A sequel to Scott’s historical drama released in 2000, the film mostly highlights new characters played by franchise newcomers. With that, one person who doesn’t appear in the movie is Russell Crowe, who’s still well known for his performance as the courageous (and now-deceased) Maximus. In the movie, the Roman general says what he feels, and Crowe is now sharing his brutally honest thoughts on Scott’s sequel.

While it was pretty much a given that Crowe wouldn’t reprise Maximus (the role that won him the Academy Award for Best Actor), he still received plenty of Gladiator II questions ahead of the film’s release. Considering Crowe’s affiliation with the film duology, I wondered how he felt about the sequel. He recently revealed those sentiments during an interview with Triple J, which was shared to Instagram. To put it mildly, Crowe isn't pleased with the movie for a few reasons:

Russell Crowe seems to be of the position that while the Gladiator sequel offers sights and sounds (or “pomp”), he doesn’t think it possesses the moral center of its predecessor. Both films are two very different films narratively speaking, despite the fact that they have similarities. At the center of the OG flick – which definitely has its share of spectacle – is the noble Maximus’ journey to not only avenge the deaths of his loved ones but to also put the Roman Empire and its people in position to thrive for years to come.

Maximus Decimus Meridius remains a beloved character, and I’d argue that’s because of his virtuous nature. It’s interesting to hear Crowe shed light on how the integrity of Meridius’ characterization had to be maintained while he, Scott and co. worked on the original movie years ago. While expanding upon that just a bit, Crowe also chastised the a big reveal that’s featured in the sequel, one that was heavily debated after its release:

Gladiator II picks up sixteen years after the events of the original movie and focuses on the now-adult Lucius (Paul Mescal) – the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) – who’s forced to fight in the colosseum after becoming a prisoner of war. A former prince of Rome, Lucius also seeks to usurp its two sibling emperors. As for the film’s reveal, it’s divulged that Lucius is actually Maximus’ son, which is an admittedly odd development given the sheer devotion Maximus showed to his wife and their son.

Storytelling decisions aside, though, critics appear so enamored by Ridley Scott’s sequel, for which he had a colosseum built. Many lauded the spectacle and praised Denzel Washington’s performance as slave-turned-stable master Macrinus, some pundits argued that the film didn’t offer much when it came to narrative substance.

It’s definitely now clear that we can add Russell Crowe to the list of people who weren’t enthused. Despite detractors, it’s been reported that a third film is in the early stages of development. Should such a film happen, I’d be curious as to whether it could sway those who weren’t high on the second Gladiator film. Until then, fans can check out both of the movies using a Paramount+ subscription.

Though it wasn’t the first or best Western movie I ever watched, The Quick and the Dead was one that my older brother and I watched countless times growing up. Like the criminally underrated Toy Soldiers, this great Sam Raimi movie starring Sharon Stone, the late Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, and a pre-Titanic Leonardo DiCaprio was on TNT whenever I would flip to channel 17 back in the day.

However, 30 years after this gunslinging epic about a mysterious drifter named “The Lady” coming into an Old West town to enter a duel tournament and get some old-fashioned revenge, I rarely hear people sing this movie’s praises or even know what it is. That’s a shame, a crying shame. If, for some reason, you’ve never watched The Quick and the Dead, here’s why you should change that…

The Quick And The Dead Pulls Off So Many Great Western Movie Archetypes

Though it’s not one of the best films of 1995 (that was a stacked year, so this isn’t a knock on it), The Quick and the Dead is a fun, violent, and outrageously fun Western that feels like both a love letter to the genre and a slight reinvention at the same time. Not only are there the time-honored tropes like duels, revenge, and redemption (it’s the name of the town, for crying out loud), but the movie also features some wonderful archetypes.

You have the mysterious drifter coming into town in the form of Sharon Stone’s “The Lady.” You have the former outlaw-turned-preacher with Russell Crowe’s Cort, and the flipside with Gene Hackman’s ruthless outlaw-turned-sheriff John Herod. And then there’s “The Kid,” Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, who wants nothing more than to earn his dad’s acceptance. All of these work really well and don’t come off as feeling cheap, unnecessary, or overdone.

The Movie Showcases Leonardo DiCaprio And Russell Crowe’s Talent Before They Were Megastars

Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman were already on top of the world when The Quick and the Dead came out in February 1995, but the same can’t be said for Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe. Going back and seeing these two future A-listers when they were on their respective ascents to stardom is so much fun to watch, especially considering they’d share the screen again a decade later in Body of Lies.

Both seem so eager, so fresh, and so believable in their parts. DiCaprio, barely 20 years old at the time, is especially electric in his portrayal of a young gunslinger trying to make a name for himself and win the affection of his iron-fisted and mercilessly cruel father. I know hindsight is 20/20, but you can see that spark in DiCaprio’s eyes whenever he’s on screen.

However, don’t let my praise of a young Leo take attention away from Russell Crowe. Released two years before L.A. Confidential and five years before his Oscar-winning performance in Gladiator made him one of the most recognizable faces on the planet, this Western was an early showcase (at least in the United States) of Crowe’s capabilities. His charm, command of the screen, and believability can all be felt.

While The Quick and the Dead isn’t streaming anywhere right now (that changes all the time), you can rent a digital copy with an Amazon subscription or pick up a physical copy to see what all the fuss is about. Hey, maybe enough people will watch, and we can start talking about this awesome 1995 Western again.

There have been many great movies about war that have depicted the battles and the death and the horrors of it, but the new movie Nuremberg explores what happens next. Or, I should say what happened next, as the historical drama is set just after World War II, ahead of the real trials of 22 surviving leaders of Nazi Germany. Critics have seen the film ahead of its November 7 release on the 2025 movie calendar, and they’re calling it “an old-school Oscar movie.”

Rami Malek stars as Douglas Kelley, the chief psychiatrist in charge of determining if the German prisoners are competent to stand trial, who enters a battle of wits against Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe), Adolf Hitler’s right hand man. In CinemaBlend’s review of Nuremberg, Hugh Scott writes that while the second half of the movie carries the weight that it should, the first half is full of snappy jokes and one-liners that feel entirely out of place. He gives the movie 2 stars out of 5, writing:

Brian Truitt of USA TODAY gives it 3.5 out of 4 stars, writing that Malek and Crowe will be battling for awards for their performances in a movie that is definitely rousing but lighter than you might expect, given the subject matter. He continues:

Matthew Jackson of AV Club says there’s nothing subtle about James Vanderbilt’s movie, which urgently and earnestly screams its warning that history repeats itself. Jackson grades it a B, writing:

Rocco T. Thompson of Slant rates Nuremberg — a book-to-screen adaptation of Jack El-Hai’s The Nazi And The Psychiatrist — 2.5 out of 4 stars, writing that between James Vanderbilt’s direction and Russell Crowe’s performance, Göring is slippery, seductive and an all-too-human monster, holding a mirror up to our current world. Thompson says:

Lindsey Bahr of the AP also gives it 2.5 out of 4 stars, saying there’s a spark lacking in the conversations between Rami Malek and Russell Crowe’s characters, and we’re deprived of an unnerving descent into the mind of Hitler’s second-in-command. According to Bahr:

Owen Gleiberman of Variety writes that what the movie’s psychiatrist and the audience want is to explore the nature of evil through the eyes of Russell Crowe’s Göring. However, according to the critic, Nuremberg doesn’t quite get to the man behind the evil myth. Gleiberman says in his review:

The film has a mostly positive 72% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is one of several highly anticipated films that will have us heading to the theater multiple weeks in a row. If you want to see one of the films that, according to some critics, we may see again on Oscar ballots, Nuremberg will be in theaters starting Friday, November 7.

The Nuremberg Trials were one of the most pivotal moments of the 20th century. On the heels of World War II, the Allies, for the first time in history, would put the aggressors of that war on trial for those aggressions, the Holocaust, and their crimes against humanity. The trials, especially the first trial that condemned the highest-ranking Nazis still living after the war, set precedents that are still in use today in international law. Nuremberg, from writer/director James Vanderbilt and starring Russell Crowe as the infamous Nazi Hermann Göring and Rami Malek as a psychiatrist studying the imprisoned war criminal, isn’t going to set any precedents.

The 2-hour and 28-minute movie really struggles to find its tone throughout. On one hand, it’s a pretty traditional courtroom drama. It’s also a psychological drama exploring the depths of humanity’s ability to be evil and justify it to oneself. It’s also, weirdly, a sort of adventure story that at times feels like it would fit into the Indiana Jones franchise.

This problem starts from the beginning. There are a lot of one-liners and snappy jokes that feel completely out of place for the subject matter. Making fun of Nazis and making them cartoonish, like Indiana Jones movies do, is great in the right context. But a study of how evil the Nazis were during the war and in implementing “The Final Solution of the Jewish Question” is not the time to slip in jokes. Yet, there are a bunch of them here, and it frankly made me squirm every time one was delivered.

The first act of Nuremberg is far too playful.

Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, played here by Michael Shannon, was the chief prosecutor for the United States at the trial. By most accounts, Jackson was a serious man who took his duty at the trial solemnly and soberly. In Nuremberg, he’s often jokey, and that makes it difficult to take him seriously when he’s not. It’s a contrast that is impossible to reconcile. One-liners and hard cuts feel so out of place here; it makes you want to scream.

Meanwhile, Malek’s character, Dr. Douglas Kelley, seems to be off on his own separate adventure. His motivations are self-serving, as he intends to write a book about his interviews with the most notorious Nazis, especially Göring. More often, though, he’s just off on a jaunt through post-war Germany, speeding around in Jeeps and getting drunk in nightclubs with beautiful journalists. His character wouldn’t be out of place in a jaunty ‘60s war movie like The Great Escape or The Dirty Dozen. Sure, there is devastation all around us, but hey, let’s go have some fun in Europe!

Kelley’s constant bickering with the commandant of the prison holding the war criminals, Burton C. Andrus (John Slattery), borders on the absurd, with both men firing one-liners back and forth. At the same time, he’s combative in a far too self-serious way with another psychiatrist on the team, Gustave Gilbert (Colin Hanks). These two contrasting relationships again highlight how the film doesn’t strike a consistent tone. It’s enough to give any viewer whiplash.

The second half almost saves the movie.

Finally, once we arrive at the second act, the movie becomes what it should have been all along: a tense courtroom drama. When the prosecutors play films of the concentration camps, it carries the weight that it should. There are no more jokes, no more asides, and no more adventures; it’s a cold and brutal look at the Nazi atrocities and those responsible for them.

It's when Göring takes the stand that the movie finally shines. Shannon and Crowe are excellent as prosecutor and accused pitted against each other. We know from history just how this all plays out, and the movie stays true to that history, but Vanderbilt still builds the tension as the testimony unfolds. Göring is cocky at first, as he was in real life, before it all falls apart after only one question from British prosecutor Sir David Maxwell Fyfe (Richard E. Grant) in the film's best moment.

After all the uncomfortable playfulness of the first act, the movie settles into a seriousness that the subject matter demanded all along. The crowd I saw it with was completely silent for the final 45 minutes of the movie, as the jokes finally faded away, and the gravity of the crimes took hold. It’s a story most know, but that doesn’t lessen the impact of the real footage of the concentration camps, or the earnestness of the prosecutors in the trial. Even when Göring is charming, and he is at times, we aren’t allowed to forget how evil he is. That’s what was needed for the whole film, not just the final third of it.

The end of the film makes the beginning more disappointing

Nuremberg leaves the viewer asking why the whole movie didn’t strike the same tone as the trial scenes. It certainly left me wanting much more from the film. Instead, the movie misses the notes for far too long for the tense testimony of Göring to redeem it. The dramatization isn’t going to add much to the historical record, either, as the conversations between the Nazi Reichsmarschall and Kelley are truly fascinating, but ultimately fall flat.

The film makes a final point to show that the Nazis were just humans. Humanity at its worst, yes, but treating them as an anomaly discounts the possibility that something as evil as that regime could ever happen again. There is a clunky political message in there, but more than that, it's important to always remember that humans have a great capacity for wicked depravity. To forget that is to ignore the past and take the future for granted. If only the movie held that ideal throughout.

It’s impossible to make a man like Hermann Göring sympathetic, and it's probably not a great idea to try to, but Crowe does find a twisted sense of humanity in him. Unfortunately, the rest of the film doesn’t take itself seriously enough to make it stick.

As a big Highlander fan, I’ve been following the plans to reboot the franchise for years, and after multiple starts and stops, it looks like the movie may finally actually happen, as new actors are being cast in the film. The most recent name added to the list is Russell Crowe, who will reunite with his former Man of Steel co-star Henry Cavill, but it turns out that wasn’t the first place these two met.

The Story Behind The Advice Russell Crowe Once Gave Henry Cavill

Back when Man of Steel was released, the cast appeared on The Graham Norton Show, and Crowe talked about meeting a 16-year-old Henry Cavill. Crowe was on hand at the Stowe School, shooting the movie Proof of Life with Meg Ryan, where Cavill was a student. Crowe says he noticed a young Cavill as a particularly adept rugby player, and the two started talking, and Cavill wanted advice on how to become an actor. Crowe said…

Crowe says he later put together a couple of care packages, one for Merlin Hanbury-Tenison, who played Crowe’s on-screen son in the film, and also went to the school, and another for Cavill. In Cavill’s, he included a note. Crowe continued his story…

Years later, on the set of Man of Steel, Crowe apparently asked Cavill if the two had met before, and Cavill had to remind Crowe of their meeting, it seems.

Cavill And Crowe Will Reunite In The Highlander Reboot

Russell Crowe and Henry Cavill will see each other again soon, as they are now both set to appear in the Highlander reboot directed by Chad Stahelski. The pair will likely also have likely have significantly more screen time together than they did on the Superman film.

Cavill has been on board to play the lead character, a Scottish immortal who was named Conor Macleod in the original 1985 movie. Crowe has signed on to play Macloud’s mentor, who was played by Sean Connery in the original movie. Dave Bautista was previously on board the reboot to play the villain, but that was so long ago at this point it’s unclear if he’s still attached.

Highlander is expected to begin filming later this year, so Henry Cavill and his old friend Russell Crowe will see each other again soon. If Crowe has gained any more insight into working as an actor, I’m sure Cavill will be happy to hear it.

Like any art, movies have a magical capacity to impact people on many different levels. You may see a film and not think much of it beyond it being entertaining, but that same work could also very well be the emotional foundation for another individual. I always love reading/hearing about examples of this phenomenon, as it perfectly demonstrates the immense power of cinema, and Russell Crowe recently shared a really beautiful one while giving an speech in Malta and discussing the impressive legacy of Ridley Scott's Gladiator.

Making a special appearance at the Mediterrane Film Festival this weekend (via Pat Sapertein on X), Crowe shared a story about an experience that he once had with a passionate Gladiator fan. The character Maximus Decimus Meridius will forever be an important part of the actor's legacy (let's not forget that the performance won him the Academy Award for Best Actor), but he was nonetheless taken aback when a muscle-bound stranger began crying upon meeting him on a random evening. Said Crowe,

You may be thinking now, "Oh, he must have been immensely star-struck. What a cute moment!" But this encounter goes a touch deeper than that.

When the man finally pulled himself together and couple properly verbalize a sentence, he explained why it meant so much to him that he would get to meet Russell Crowe. He wasn't simply a guy who has seen Gladiator a hundred times and loves it for its action and drama; when he was a kid, he was told to keep the heroic Maximus in mind as he reached maturity and figured out what kind of man he should be. Crowe continued:

How could you not love that story?! Gladiator may physically amount to a bunch of images flickering on a screen, but the tale it tells and the hero it presents can literally be described as life-changing.

If you're like me and now feeling in the mood to check out one of the greatest modern sword-and-sandal epics, Gladiator and all of its beauty and emotional power is available to stream with a Paramount+ subscription.

When the original Highlander made its way to the big screen in 1986, the film’s sweeping ballad from Queen asked the audience “Who wants to live forever?” Cut to looking ahead from the 2025 movie schedule, and the answer I’m tempted to give is, “Anyone who wanted to see Henry Cavill’s Highlander reboot actually happen.”

Well it doesn’t seem like it’ll be that long before director Chad Stahelski’s vision will be in front of us, especially since Russell Crowe has now been drafted into a pretty impressive role. The casting coup, announced by Collider, suggests that Cavill’s Kryptonian father from Man of Steel will be playing fellow immortal Ramirez; which is perfect – despite the obvious racial difference.

Played by Sean Connery in the original, Ramirez is the man who helps Highlander protagonist Connor MacLeod adjust to the tradition of decimating his fellow immortals, until there’s only one. Because, you see, there can only be one.

Henry Cavill’s role as Connor (originally played by Christopher Lambert) would put him in line to once again learn from the Gladiator legend, and potentially for longer than they worked together in Man of Steel. Which, again, is a reason to get excited about Russell Crowe’s potential place in this new round of beheadings.

And that's on top of Highlander’s supposed attention to lore that’s excited its geeky lead in the past. Admittedly, that’s the sort of news that distracts one from wondering about Highlander’s previous budget concerns, which saw the film fall into limbo before Amazon-MGM Studios stepped in.

What’s even more fun to ponder is how, after watching the trailer for 1986’s Highlander, it sounds like Sean Connery saying some things that Crowe may or may not have said in Zack Snyder’s 2013 DC reboot. Take a look for yourself, and tell me I’m wrong:

Look, if Chad Stahelski doesn’t at least consider Adam Lambert and Queen for the soundtrack to Highlander’s reboot, what are we even doing here? If Russell Crowe’s casting does happen to be for Ramirez, he and Henry Cavill have clearly shown their love for the original film’s spirit. That only makes my hypothetical suggestion above more valid, because who else are you going to trust with “Princes of the Universe?” I thought so.

At the moment, there’s still a lot of moving pieces in play for Highlander to happen. With production aiming to start this fall, there’s a chance that 2026 or 2027 will see the next era of these immortals hitting the big screen. That is, of course, if Mr. Cavill's Warhammer 40,000 adaptation doesn't get in the way. So now with two thirds of the major characters seemingly cast, one question will be occupying our minds until it’s answered: who in the hell is going to play the Kurgan?!

When you think of Gladiator, one of the very best movies of the 2000s, there’s a good chance one scene comes to mind first—Maximus Decimus Meridius, standing battered but defiant in the Colosseum, declaring his now-legendary speech: “I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.” It’s one of the most powerful moments in Ridley Scott’s historical epic. But believe it or not, Russell Crowe nearly torpedoed the line because he thought it was, in his words, “shit.”

The Pivotal Scene and Its Iconic Line

In a defining moment of the film, as recounted in a New York Post retrospective (via Nicole LaPorte’s book The Men Who Would Be King: An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies, and a Company Called DreamWorks), Maximus finally comes face to face with the man who murdered his family—Emperor Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). Ordered to reveal his identity, he removes his helmet and delivers one of the most unforgettable monologues in cinematic history:

It’s a defining moment for Maximus—a declaration of grief, defiance, and unwavering resolve for revenge. The scene, which you can see below, still gives me chills to this day.

So good. But what if it had never made it to the final cut?

Russell Crowe’s Issues with the Gladiator Script

As powerful as the line became, the Les Misérables star initially hated it. According to LaPorte’s book, the actor was deeply critical of the script and took issue with this monologue. She describes his initial reaction:

At the time, Crowe had a reputation for opposing​​ dialogue he didn’t believe in. He was rumored to have contributed to the script; even one of the best scenes was allegedly his idea, and he strongly resisted delivering the speech as written.

The Beautiful Mind actor initially filmed a different version of the scene but was still unhappy with the result. Frustrated, he asked to take another look at the original script—the very one he had once dismissed. After reconsidering, he ultimately agreed to deliver the line as written.

And after finally filming the now-iconic take, he reportedly turned to Scott and said:

And just like that, one of Gladiator’s most unforgettable moments—and one of the most quoted lines in film history—was born.

Gladiator: A Defining Moment in Cinema

Despite his initial reluctance, the L.A. Confidential actor’s performance in Gladiator became the stuff of legend. The film earned five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and Crowe took home the Best Actor Oscar. Looking back, it’s nearly impossible to imagine Gladiator without Maximus’ defining speech—or another actor delivering it with the same raw intensity.

If you’re in the mood for a Gladiator rewatch, the original film is currently available on one of the best streaming services, streaming with a Paramount+ subscription. And with the sequel finally arriving more than 20 years later, fans can compare the Gladiator II ending to the original’s unforgettable ending.

Be sure to check our 2025 movie schedule to see what movies are headed to a theater near you.

The Academy Award for Best Actor has been handed out every year since 1929 — fun fact, it was awarded to German actor Emil Jannings for not one but two acclaimed roles, in The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh — and in the near-century since, it's been presented 97 times to 86 actors. But while taking home that coveted statuette is definitely a career highlight for any performer, the honor does add a little extra pressure on the actor's next project. Will it be as beloved and acclaimed as the role that won them the gold? Here are 32 films that Oscar-winning actors did after taking home the Academy Award, and how they were received.

Cillian Murphy

After the enormity of portraying famed physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan's billion-dollar blockbuster Oppenheimer, and taking home the 2024 Oscar for Best Actor in the process, Cillian Murphy went small for his next film — literally. In the 2024 adaptation of Claire Keegan's Small Things Like These, Murphy returned to his native Ireland to play Bill, a quiet coal merchant and father of five internally struggling with the harsh realities of the infamous Magdalene Laundries. While Murphy didn't replicate the awards dominance of Oppenheimer with SMTLT, his internal and affecting performance was widely praised by critics.

Joaquin Phoenix

After four nominations throughout his decades-spanning career, Joaquin Phoenix finally took home that Best Actor statue in 2020 for his engrossing portrayal of the nihilistic clown Arthur Fleck in Todd Phillips' Joker. Following that iconic role, Phoenix next appeared in the 2021 Mike Mills dramedy C'mon C'mon, an improv-heavy performance that saw the actor play a middle-aged radio journalist tasked with babysitting his nephew (Woody Norman) while on the road for work. Phoenix was nominated for Outstanding Lead Performance at the Gotham Awards, and the film was chosen by the National Board of Review as one of the Top 10 Independent Films of the year.

Will Smith

Will Smith had quite an, um, eventful evening when he took home the Oscar for Best Actor in 2022 for King Richard after two prior nominations (Ali, The Pursuit of Happyness). Winning an Oscar means that a spotlight is already bright on an actor, but the added publicity from the ceremony means his post-slap comeback would be even more scrutinized than usual. His follow-up was 2022's Emancipation, in which he played a runaway slave in 1860s Louisiana. Though the drama received mixed reviews overall, Smith won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture for his performance.

Anthony Hopkins

Though he's garnered six Oscar nominations across his illustrious acting career — with his most recent win being for 2021's The Father — Anthony Hopkins' first Academy Award was for that scene-stealing villain, psychiatrist turned serial killer Hannibal Lector in 1991's The Silence of the Lambs. Following up such an iconic performance is no small task and unfortunately, Hopkins' next film, 1992's Freejack opposite Emilio Estevez and Mick Jagger, was a sci-fi dud, bombing both with critics and audiences. During an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, Hopkins himself called the film "terrible."

Leonardo DiCaprio

Five-time nominee Leonardo DiCaprio had a bit of "always the bridesmaid" syndrome where the Academy Awards were concerned, until he finally took home the Best Actor Oscar for his emotionally raw and physically punishing performance in Alejandro G. Iñárritu's 2019 Western epic The Revenant. His next big-screen role was, graciously, a bit less cold and blustery, trading the frosty American Midwest for starry Los Angeles in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The latter received 10 Oscar nominations at the 92nd Academy Awards, including a nod for DiCaprio's individual work.

Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington had already taken home a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for playing a Civil War soldier in the 1989 war drama Glory, but he got his first big Best Actor win for portraying corrupt LAPD officer Alonzo Harris in the 2001 crime thriller Training Day. His next performance was another memorable Denzel role: as the title character in the 2002 Nick Cassavetes-directed drama John Q, which saw Washington play a desperate father who takes a hospital emergency room hostage in order for his son to receive a heart transplant. Alas, despite some praise for Denzel's performance, the film itself boasts only a 26% critics' rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Robert De Niro

Six years after taking home the Best Supporting Actor statue for The Godfather Part II, Robert De Niro got his Best Actor win for his iconic and intense work as boxing champion Jake LaMotta in Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull. A year later, De Niro put away the boxing gloves and picked up the Bible to play a Roman Catholic monsignor in 1981's True Confessions, opposite fellow The Godfather great Robert Duvall. Though reviews for the neo-noir were largely positive, the National Review's William F. Buckley, Jr. panned it: "Robert De Niro is badly miscast. He is never entirely convincing."

Matthew McConaughey

After acclaimed turns in 2011's Lincoln Lawyer and 2012's Magic Mike, the so-called "McConaissance" was officially solidified a year later with Matthew McConaughey's Oscar-winning portrayal of Ron Woodroof, a cowboy diagnosed with AIDS, in the biopic Dallas Buyers Club. Despite not having nearly as much screentime, the actor's next performance was just as memorable: a chest-thumping, meme-inducing extended cameo as Mark Hanna in Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street.

Tom Hanks

Beyond being one of the most beloved actors of all time, Tom Hanks also holds a piece of cinema history: he's one of only two actors to win back-to-back Academy Awards for acting. Yes, that means after taking home the Best Actor Oscar for his heart-wrenching performance as HIV-positive lawyer Andrew Beckett in 1994's Philadelphia, Hanks struck Oscar gold yet again with his very next performance, as the titular lead of 1995's Forrest Gump.

Rami Malek

Rami Malek belted his way to an Oscar as legendary Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in the glossy 2019 biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. His first post-award performance also revolved around his voice — voice acting, that is, as Malek portrayed a mountain gorilla named Chee-Chee in the 2020 fantasy-adventure film Dolittle, with his future Oppenheimer co-star Robert Downey Jr. as the titular doc. The family-friendly flick received abysmal reviews from critics, with Courtney Howard of Variety writing: "What should have been an awe-filled adventure quickly curdles into an awful one, thanks to a pedestrian formula and the filmmakers' fixation on fart jokes."

Adrien Brody

In 2003, Adrien Brody made Oscar history when he won the Academy Award for Best Actor at age 29 for his portrayal of Władysław Szpilman in Roman Polanski's war drama The Pianist, becoming the youngest actor ever to win in that category. Later that year, he followed up his historic win with the musical crime comedy The Singing Detective, about a mystery writer (Robert Downey Jr.) who relives his detective stories through his imagination and hallucinations. The film scored a 39% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Jamie Foxx

Jamie Foxx had one hell of a 2004, serving up not one but two award-worthy performances: He took home the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as soul great Ray Charles in the 2004 biopic Ray and also received a Best Supporting Actor nod that same year for his work in the crime film Collateral. It would be near-impossible for any performer to hit that kind of stratospheric high again, especially with Foxx's follow-up Stealth — the 2005 military action flick co-starring Josh Lucas and Jessica Biel was dubbed a "stink-bomb" by Roger Ebert.

Daniel Day-Lewis

Acting legend Daniel Day-Lewis deservedly holds the record for the most Best Actor awards ever, with three wins out of six nominations, but his first was for playing Christy Brown, a writer-artist born with cerebral palsy, in the 1989 drama My Left Foot. And though he would later follow that iconic role up by playing famous figures such as Abraham Lincoln and Bill the Butcher, his immediate next performance was as an Irish-American dentist traveling around Argentina in the forgettable 1989 dramedy Eversmile, New Jersey.

Jack Nicholson

The first of three Academy Awards for the legendary movie star, Jack Nicholson's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest performance as Randle McMurphy nabbed him the Oscar in 1976. Later that year, he would star as cattle rustler Tom Logan opposite Marlon Brandon in the Arthur Penn-helmed Western The Missouri Breaks. Coming hot on the heels of not only his own Oscar win but also Brando's for The Godfather, the film was highly anticipated — however, it failed to live up to those expectations and became a notorious critical and commercial flop.

Marlon Brando

One of the most iconic cinema stars of all time, Marlon Brando was nominated for eight Oscars across his decades-spanning career. He won two, the first being for his electrifying role as prizefighter turned longshoreman Terry Malloy in the 1954 crime drama On the Waterfront, widely considered one of the greatest acting performances of all time. His next role as Napoleon Bonaparte in the historical romance Désirée didn't win him any awards, but Variety reportedly called his performance "a masterful exhibition of thesping" at the time.

Philip Seymour Hoffman

The late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman had already solidified himself as a vibrant and vital supporting actor with films like The Talented Mr. Ripley, Almost Famous, Magnolia and 25th Hour, but his Oscar-winning portrayal of author Truman Capote in 2005's Capote officially upped him to leading man status. He would receive another three Oscar nominations in the years to follow, but his very next role was more of a crowd-pleaser than an awards grab: as arms dealer Owen Davian in Mission: Impossible III.

Russell Crowe

Audiences and critics alike were very much entertained by Russell Crowe's performance as Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 Rome-set epic Gladiator, which earned the New Zealand-born star the Best Actor Oscar at the 73rd Academy Awards. Crowe would go up for the same award only a year later, for his portrayal of American mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. in the biographical drama A Beautiful Mind, but he lost to Training Day lead Denzel Washington.

Jean Dujardin

Jean Dujardin rose to international fame with his performance as George Valentin in the 2011 silent movie The Artist — his Oscar win was a historic one, as he was the first French performer to ever take home the Best Actor statue. Despite his newfound Hollywood status, however, the actor-comedian returned to his native France for his next film credit: The Players, a 2012 comedy anthology co-starring Gilles Lellouche, with each man also directing and writing a segment.

Nicolas Cage

Nicolas Cage's filmography is a wild ride, from critically acclaimed fare like Raising Arizona, Moonstruck and Adaptation to straight-to-video shlock. Thankfully, his 1995 drama Leaving Las Vegas falls into the former category, winning Cage the Best Actor Oscar for his role as alcoholic screenwriter Ben Sanderson. (Funnily enough, it's not one of Nic Cage's favorite Nic Cage movies.) His next movie was the 1996 action thriller The Rock, which also won Cage an award: the Best On-Screen Duo statue at the MTV Movie Awards alongside co-star Sean Connery.

Eddie Redmayne

British star Eddie Redmayne won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of famed theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking in the 2014 biographical drama The Theory of Everything. But that career high was immediately followed by a career-low: a Golden Raspberry Award — a parody award honoring cinematic failures — for Worst Supporting Actor for his work in the galactically goofy 2015 space opera Jupiter Ascending. Even he admitted his performance was bad!

Sidney Poitier

A movie icon through and through, Bahamian-American actor Sidney Poitier made history in 1964 as the first Black performer to win the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Lilies of the Field. A year later, he moved on from that seminal role with the 1965 Cold War thriller The Bedford Incident, as a civilian photojournalist aboard a U.S. Navy ship that gets into some messy business with a Soviet submarine. Though Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote that "the whole thing transcends plausibility," other critics clearly disagreed — the movie has an 86% Certified Fresh rating.

Sean Penn

After a trio of Best Actor nominations, Sean Penn's haunting performance as a grieving, vengeful father of a murdered Boston girl in the Clint Eastwood-directed neo-noir Mystic River finally got him the Academy Award in 2004. Later that year, Penn starred in yet another crime thriller, The Assassination of Richard Nixon, based on the story of the POTUS's would-be assassin Samuel Byck in the mid-1970s. The latter film didn't share the award-worthy gravitas of Mystic River, though, per Rotten Tomatoes, critical consensus said: "A fascinating true story and compelling Sean Penn performance are worthy compensations."

Roberto Benigni

Few Oscar wins were as memorable as Roberto Benigni's, what with presenter Sofia Loren's passionate declaration of "Roberto!" to Benigni's literal victory lap up to the stage. The Italian actor-director took the Best Actor trophy in 1998 for the Holocaust tragicomedy Life is Beautiful, making him the first honoree for a non-English language performance. A year later, he would appear in a very different movie: French-Italian-German comedy adventure flick Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar opposite Gérard Depardieu and Christian Clavier, which was a box office success.

Al Pacino

One of the most influential actors in modern cinema, Al Pacino was nominated for eight Academy Awards — including for The Godfather films, Serpico and the crime drama classic Dog Day Afternoon — before finally taking home the Best Actor statue for playing Frank Slade in 1992's Scent of a Woman. That Oscar win gave viewers an extra critical eye on his next role, as Nuyorican criminal Carlito Brigante in the De Palma crime drama Carlito's Way, however, reviews were largely positive.

Ben Kingsley

It's a daunting thing playing any famous figure in movies based on true stories, especially when the subject is so famous, that they need only one name. Case in point: Gandhi, the 1982 bio epic about the Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi, directed by Richard Attenborough and performed by English actor Sir Ben Kingsley. Luckily for them, the film won Best Picture and Kingsley took home the Best Actor award. Though his next project, the 1983 film adaptation of Harold Pinter's play Betrayal, didn't get Oscar acclaim, it was well-received by critics.

Humphrey Bogart

It seems surprising that Humphrey Bogart didn't win the Oscar for a role as iconic as Rick Blaine in the 1942 classic Casablanca. No, it would actually be another eight years until ol' Bogie won Best Actor for The African Queen, starring as Canadian mechanic Charlie Allnut opposite Katharine Hepburn's Methodist missionary Rose Sayer. His post-Oscar follow-up was the 1952 noir Deadline – U.S.A.: Variety said "Bogart gives a convincing performance all the way" as a big-city newspaper editor who exposes a gangster's crimes.

Forest Whitaker

Forest Whitaker was ferocious and formidable as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the 2006 historical drama The Last King of Scotland, one of his best performances that got the performer a Best Actor Oscar in '07. Later that year, the actor appeared in the ensemble crime drama The Air I Breathe alongside Kevin Bacon, Julie Delpy and Brendan Fraser. Though reviews for the film were overwhelmingly negative, several singled out Whitaker's performance. Annabelle Robertson at Crosswalk wrote: "Whitaker, in particular, is extremely sympathetic in his role—a feat that is all the more outstanding after his turn as the evil dictator in The Last King of Scotland."

Dustin Hoffman

After three Best Actor nods, New Hollywood icon Dustin Hoffman received his first Academy Award for playing half of a couple going through a devastating divorce (alongside an equally great Meryl Streep) in Kramer vs. Kramer in 1980. His next movie role is just as much of a classic: as Michael Dorsey-slash-Dorothy Michaels in the beloved 1982 comedy Tootsie, which nabbed the star yet another Best Actor nomination.

Gary Oldman

Gary Oldman was nearly unrecognizable in his prosthetics-heavy performance as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the 2017 historical drama Darkest Hour. The Academy Awards honored the quintessential Oldman role with a Best Actor award, his second nomination after Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. His next role was just as transformative, if not nearly as acclaimed: Oldman voiced an artificial intelligence in the 2018 sci-fi thriller Tau, which holds a woeful critical rating of 27% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Laurence Olivier

One of the most celebrated Shakespearean actors in film history, cinema icon Laurence Olivier starred in and directed adaptations of three of the Bard's best-known words, Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948) and Richard III (1955), and earned a Best Actor Oscar for playing the Prince of Denmark. After portraying one of the most famous characters of all time, Olivier switched it up by cameoing as a no-name policeman in the 1951 drama The Magic Box, a "distinguished" bit of stunt casting that The New York Times praised as a delightful "extravagance."

Casey Affleck

Casey Affleck's devastating performance as a father grieving the loss of his three children in Kenneth Lonergan's gut-wrenching Manchester by the Sea clearly broke the collective hearts of the Academy, which voted to give the Boston-bred performer the Best Actor award in 2017. That year, he would tackle another exploration of love and loss with the supernatural drama A Ghost Story, which was a hit with critics — Richard Brody of The New Yorker included the title on his list of the decade's best films.

Brendan Fraser

Brendan Fraser experienced quite the career comeback when he took the Best Actor Oscar for his acclaimed performance as a morbidly obese, housebound English teacher in the 2022 Darren Aronofsky-directed melodrama The Whale. He kept those high-profile projects going with his next film credit, as attorney W. S. Hamilton in Martin Scorsese's stunning American crime drama Killers of the Flower Moon, which was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

When it comes to sequels of iconic films, few projects have generated as much buzz as Ridley Scott’s 2024 epic Gladiator II. The original 2000 film left a legacy that is hard to match, and stepping into that world again is no small feat. However Paul Mescal, who was cast to lead the film as Lucius, took the challenge in stride. He was determined to carve his own path, and for him, this meant not discussing the role with Russell Crowe. Interestingly, Ridley Scott had a fitting James Bond comparison when addressing Mescal’s decision, which just might put this bold move into perspective.

Paul Mescal’s Decision Not To Speak to Russell Crowe

Of course, it's not surprising that people would want to know if the “gladiators” ever had a meeting of the minds. The original Gladiator is a beloved movie, and Crowe’s performance in the film earned him an Oscar for playing Maximus. One naturally would wonder if Mescal wanted some tips before stepping into his shoes. Ultimately however, the Aftersun actor decided to approach Gladiator II without his predecessor’s guidance, as he wanted to find the character independently. He told Esquire:

He echoed the sentiment when asked again by ExtraTV. Clearly Mescal isn’t averse to meeting Crowe, but would want the occasion to be focused more about their similar experiences, rather than acting and character advice. He elaborated:

This decision makes complete sense. At the end of the day, the sequel film came out 24 years after the original film featuring new characters and a new story at the center. Mescal wasn’t even playing the same character that Crowe did, and the intrigue of Gladiator II was the unique spin the 28-year-old actor would put on the source material for a new audience. Mescal certainly didn’t want to copy what Crowe did, as that wouldn't be constructive to the process. However, now that filming is done, the two Gladiator stars would likely enjoy grabbing a pint together and talking about their shared experiences, as they have a lot in common.

Ridley Scott’s Take On Paul Mescal’s Decision

Director Ridley Scott, who also helmed the original Gladiator in 2000, was supportive of Mescal’s decision not to reach out to Crowe. The filmmaker understood that his new leading man had to carve out his own path. He actually found the notion to be silly, and compared it to different James Bond actors discussing the part together. Those movies, like the Gladiator sequel, prioritize reinvention, hoping audiences will get something different from each portrayal rather than rehashing the same thing. Scott said to ExtraTV:

Just like new iterations of Bond, Paul Mescal’s portrayal of Lucius in Gladiator II was an opportunity to expand the franchise rather than recreate it. Scott’s remarks also underscored his confidence in Mescal, who’s rapidly becoming one of Hollywood’s most promising talents and received praise from critics for his performance in the sequel. Comparisons to the first Gladiator are inevitable but this analogy shows that the 2024 film wasn’t about chasing the shadow of Maximus. It was about forging a new legacy, and one that Mescal and the rest of the Gladiator II cast were poised to deliver.

You can see Paul Mescal in Gladiator II, which is still playing in theaters nationwide. Fans can also revisit Russell Crowe’s performance in 2000’s Gladiator, which is currently available to stream now with a Paramount+ subscription.

Strength and honor have visited the 2024 movies, thanks to Gladiator II making a huge splash in the market. And of course, what we do in our careers echoes in our resumes - a notion that has yet again been proven by one of the mythic parties that helped it all happen. While actor Russell Crowe’s sequel pitch didn’t make it into the Paul Mescal starring legacy-quel, an idea of his actually did make it into the original 2000 classic. That suggestion led to a heartbreaking addition, as well as a hilarious note from director Ridley Scott, and I can see why both of these anecdotes had to happen.

During a previous appearance on Charlie Rose, the Academy Award winning actor revealed that he helped inject more emotion into the scene where Maximus returns to see his wife and son have been slain. That moment was very different in the original intent, which was described by Crowe in a clip that’s circulating thanks to Instagram.

As it turns out, Gladiator’s vengeful general was not supposed to walk to his wife’s feet and kiss them mournfully. If the original direction had held, Russell Crowe would have acted this emotional beat from a distance. But fully being in character, the L.A. Confidential performer wanted to walk to the corpse in question, after providing the following reasoning to his director:

That description, while totally heartfelt, doesn’t do the finished scene the justice it deserves. So before we get to the funny part, brace yourself and revisit Maximus’ devastating return home in Gladiator. Be sure you have plenty of tissues on hand, as that ties into the next piece of this story as well:

Gladiator has broken so many hearts over almost a quarter of a century, just through this moment alone. Sure, the Best Picture winner is known for some amazing action sequences, and a ripping soundtrack through one of the best Hans Zimmer scores. But there’s a very true and beating heart that sits at the center of Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe’s work.

Which makes the hilarious note that Scott gave his leading man back in the day all the more enjoyable to learn about. Continuing his story about the somber moment he co-created with the directing legend, Crowe shared this tidbit about what happened when he put that vision into practice:

Though the stories about Russell Crowe’s alleged Gladiator script contributions have been debunked, inspired scenes like this still live on. And admittedly, without this visceral fencepost of what Maximus has gone through in his life, his quest for vengeance just wouldn't hit as hard. Especially his monologue after he's unmasked before Joaquin Phoenix's Emperor Commodus.

The Gladiator legacy lives on, both in its past and present forms, through scenes like the once mentioned above. The echoes of the past can be revisited, as the original Russell Crowe film is currently streaming through access to a Paramount+ subscription. And if you’re heading out to the movies, you can make your own comparison between that finale and the Gladiator II ending, as that picture is still being shown in theaters.

Ridley Scott's Gladiator II has taken more than 20 years to hit the 2024 movie release schedule. And, though franchise OG Russell Crowe isn’t in the sequel–not for lack of trying, even when the ideas weren’t very good–you’d think the Oscar-winning actor might be focused solely on celebrating the franchise’s big return. But no—the Master and Commander actor has his sights set on another action movie that made critical waves earlier this year. Also, lucky for you, it's one you can enjoy from the comfort of your couch.

The film in question is the action comedy The Fall Guy, and Russell Crowe recently took to X (formerly Twitter) to give a hearty shout-out to the high-octane action-comedy starring his funny The Nice Guys co-star, Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. Far from a throwaway endorsement, the Pope’s Exorcist star’s words read like the kind of glowing recommendation you’d trust from a close friend:

It’s no surprise that Russell Crowe is championing the David Leitch-helmed film—the film has been riding a wave of glowing praise since its SXSW Film Festival premiere earlier this year. Gosling and Blunt deliver a perfect blend of humor, action and heart. The production also earned widespread acclaim for its heartfelt tribute to some of cinema’s unsung heroes: stunt performers.

The Fall Guy follows a veteran stuntman who’s reluctantly pulled into a chaotic mission to find a missing actor from the set of his ex-girlfriend’s directorial debut. The movie seamlessly mixes adrenaline-fueled action with moments of romance and comedy, offering a fresh and exhilarating look at the gritty, underappreciated world of stunt work. The Drive actor’s performance is the cherry on top, as balances his comedic timing, action-hero charm and emotional depth. Imagine Barbie’s Ken, but with bruises, pure swagger and just enough vulnerability to win you over.

Russell Crowe knows a thing or two about cult hits and one of his own criminally under-seen-flicks is the aforementioned film featuring Ryan Gosling. The Nice Guys, Shane Black’s 2016 sharp action movie that is far funnier than you’d expect, paired the veteran Robin Hood performer’s grizzled enforcer with the Notebook alum’s bumbling private eye in a mismatched buddy dynamic that audiences might not have shown up for in theaters. Still, it's been growing in popularity in recent years. Despite rave reviews, the film flew under the radar during its initial release. It’s a movie that showcased the two Hollywood A-lister’s knack for physical comedy and impeccable timing while also proving their undeniable chemistry.

If you’re looking for a film that delivers comedy, action, and a genuine respect for filmmaking, The Fall Guy sounds worth putting on your watchlist. The best part? You don’t have to wait for a theater rewatch to catch this gem—you can now check out Russell Crowe’s movie recommendation by streaming it with your Peacock subscription. Believe me when I say you should take Crowe's advice and watch, because you won't be disappointed.

But, if it’s epic battles and a taste of ancient Rome you’re craving, you’re in luck. With Gladiator II still in theaters, there’s no better time to revisit Russell Crowe’s iconic Maximus. Fire up your Paramount+ subscription and dive back into the original Gladiator.

If you were not entertained by Gladiator II or at least have not been entertained yet by Gladiator II, please pop out of this spoilery article and read one of our other lovely and spoiler-free articles on CinemaBlend.

When Gladiator II hit the movie release schedule, one of my big concerns was that the movie would try to rehash or expand on some of the original movie's ideas in a cheesy or poorly executed way. The movie’s B Cinemascore (which aligns with CinemaBlend’s Gladiator II review) did little to dissuade me before I plunked down into a comfy chair with a bucket of popcorn.

As it turns out, I could not have been happier with the way the movie handled its Gladiator connections – and completely flipped the script on its ending.

A Lot Of Gladiator II’s Connections To The Original Were Handled Deftly

The Gladiator II sequel takes great pains to set up a story of a young fighter that sees loss of a similar ilk to Maximus in the first movie. In the new movie, Lucius (Paul Mescal) is fighting for a cause he believes in and loses everything he loves, including his wife, as he is becoming the person he is meant to be.

After losing a hard fought battle, he’s captured and shipped off to the lower rung Gladiator rings, again similar to Maximus Decimus Meridius before him. The movie also calls back to certain scenes and uses footage from the original movie to make connections between Russell Crowe’s character and Paul Mescal’s clear —as Mescal’s Lucius is a grown-up version of Lucilla’s son from the first movie.

The main component of Lucius’ storyline is the weakest thread in the movie –we’ve written about the connective tissue with Connie Nielsen’s character already – mostly I think because it tries to connect to the original in such a narrative-forward way. So I get the Cinemascore on some fronts; regardless, setting his storyline up in this way allows him to interact with Denzel Washington’s Macrinus and Pedro Pascal’s General Acacius in ways that felt important and engaging. Bascially, the main plot worked for me.

More importantly, a lot of the less focal ways the movie connects to its 2000 predecessor hit home. For example, I liked that Maximus’ armor is highlighted early in the movie and comes into play later when Lucius decides to take on his birthright. I liked the return to the Coliseum in the movie’s final moments. I liked how Macrinus’ story tied in with the lore in the first movie and how the dream of Rome remained a dream after Maximus’ death.

To me, these ties worked to set up a story that was solid enough to thread together two movies set decades apart. I was even more deeply affected by the choice to make sure the ending was very different than the original.

I Thought Gladiator II’s Ending Worked Spectacularly

Gladiator has a perfect ending. It’s iconic, it was meaningful for the character, and it’s the sort of ending we’re still talking about years and years later, the sort of ending that cemented Russell Crowe’s career. The one thing I did not want to see in Gladiator II was Lucius falling to the same fate Maximus did. To me, Maximus was fulfilling an oath he’d made before he joined his wife in the underworld; Lucius was ready to fulfill a dream his grandfather had. If he'd died at the end of Gladiator II it would not have had the same impact and would have felt more like evil triumphing over good rather than the other way around.

While watching, I actually thought Gladiator II might go full circle and have a similar ending to the original movie. There are teases early on about Lucius rejoining his wife in the afterlife that echo Maximus’ storyline. Given Washington’s character Macrinus appears to be sneaky and a worthy (maybe even Oscar worthy) opponent, I was also worried for Lucius by the midpoint of the movie when Macrinus goes from a nebulous character to one who is a major threat. Because of the way the plot was set up, though, I found this option to be far less romantic than what happened in Maximus’ movie.

Instead, in its final scenes, Lucius dons Maximus’ armor and ignites the trust he’s built up in the gladiator ring. He also takes a chance getting a message to General Acacius’ allies, asking them to come to his aid, using a ring he’d been given from his grandfather as currency.

The subsequent standoff between Macrinus and Lucius is riveting (and maybe too violent for some), though I hated to see such a wild character as Macrinus die. In the end, both armies are ready for change and embrace the “idea of Rome’ that Lucius wants to fight for. He lives and with him, the dream of Rome lives on, too.

The ending is hopeful for the future in a similar way to the original movie’s closing scenes, but it’s not trying to be the same thing as the original, and this was a very important distinction I thought the sequel needed to make. Afterward, in another nod, Lucius returns to the Coliseum, echoing Juba burying Maximus’ family figures, and the movie tied into the famous wheat fields scene from the OG movie – again another moment I thought made sense.

Before release, Ridley Scott called Gladiator II “the best thing” he’s ever made. Give his oeuvre and the fact the first Gladiator exists, I’m not sure I’d go so far as to agree, but there’s no doubt in my mind that Gladiator II made for an entertaining sequel. Give it a chance now that it's headed onto VOD platforms. You might be surprised, and even entertained.

With Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II finally landing on the 2024 movie schedule, the director is pulling back the curtain on one of the more outlandish ideas he once toyed with to bring back Russell Crowe’s iconic Maximus Decimus Meridius. While the original film is easily one of the best movies of the 2000s, delivering a sweeping tale of revenge, honor, and sacrifice—and secured the A Beautiful Mind a stunning Oscar for Best Actor—its tragic ending left fans in no doubt: Maximus was dead. But Hollywood loves a good comeback and, apparently, so did the Master and Commander actor.

In a recent interview with People, Ridley Scott shared how he and the Maximus performer entertained a bold (and, in hindsight, pretty wild) concept for a potential sequel nearly two decades ago. According to the Martian filmmaker, the actor was determined to resurrect his fallen general, no matter how unlikely it seemed:

In the OG Gladiator, Maximus—a betrayed Roman general-turned-gladiator—meets his end after a dramatic and deadly showdown with Emperor Commodus, played by Joaquin Phoenix. His heroic demise wraps up his story in a way that feels final and fitting. However, the sequel shifts focus to Lucius, portrayed by Paul Mescal, who is enslaved and forced into the brutal life of a gladiator. Fans may remember Lucius as the young boy from the original film, played by Spencer Treat Clark.

Despite Maximus’ definitive fate, Ridley Scott once entertained a wild idea to bring the character back. The director revealed that one concept involved a metaphysical twist—a sort of "portal" that would allow Maximus to return from the dead. Reflecting on the process, the Blade Runner helmer elaborated:

However, when the Alien helmer floated the idea to Russell Crowe, the actor wasn’t convinced—especially since the concept would require someone else stepping into the role of Maximus’ reincarnated form. The Pope's Exorcist actor didn’t hold back in his response, as the director recalled:

The New Zealand-born A-lister admitted during an interview with Kyle Meredith With... that watching the sequel unfold without him has been “slightly uncomfortable” since his character’s death means he has “no say in what gets done.”

Crowe or no Crowe, after 23 years of back and forth trying to get the sequel off the ground, Gladiator II is finally here, and I think a number of people would agree that a metaphysical approach is probably not what we would want in a follow-up to the original movie. Thank goodness Ridley Scott held his ground because the sequel already has Oscar buzz.

Returning cast members Connie Nielsen and Derek Jacobi reprise their original roles, while the star-studded new ensemble includes Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal and Joseph Quinn. Still, the sequel will stand as Paul Mescal’s movie. The rising star, who is stepping into the massive shoes left by Russell Crowe, has said he deliberately avoided seeking advice from the original actor. Everything certainly seems to have panned out for the best but, surely, they may be some who wonder what might've been had that "portal" pitch played out.

If you’re itching to revisit Gladiator before diving into the long-awaited sequel, now’s the perfect time. The iconic film is available in stunning 4K UHD, and you can stream it with a Paramount+ subscription.

Gladiator was a huge hit in its day. It was that rare film that was both a massive blockbuster, bringing in $465 million worldwide in 2000, and an awards darling, winning multiple Oscars including Best Actor and Best Picture. It’s the sort of film that even a quarter century ago, any studio would have been looking to make a sequel quickly in an attempt to recreate that success. So why are we only getting Gladiator II just now?

Ridley Scott’s simple answer to the question when asked by EW is that the idea of making a sequel to Gladiator simply never came up at the time, because everybody just moved on to other projects. Once everybody was working on other things, Gladiator moved into the background. Scott said…

It’s maybe not that surprising that nobody was thinking of a Gladiator sequel right off the bat. Russell Crowe's best movies were all coming out in this period and following Gladiator, he was in very high demand. The film would mark the second of three consecutive Best Actor Oscar nominations for the star. Ridley Scott would release two movies he directed the year after Gladiator, including the equally impressive Black Hawk Down.

While Gladiator II certainly isn’t the only sequel to make its way to theaters decades after a previous installment, it’s perhaps a somewhat surprising film to get an update now. It feels like the sort of movie that would have gotten a sequel quickly or not at all. However, Ridley Scott says that it was watching the original Gladiator continue to be popular over time that led him to decide that he owed it to "the number one to find out about a number two.

Of course, Russell Crowe’s character Maximus had died by the end of the first movie, so any sequel would need to contend with that. There were some ideas for Gladiator II when the project was first being considered that would have found a way to bring Maximus back, but none of that ever seemed to get very far off the ground. Instead, the new film will be set decades later and see Paul Mescal as an adult Lucius, a character who was a child in the first film.

In the end, it seems like the delay of more than two decades between Gladiator movies was the right call. Ridley Scott is calling the sequel some of his best work, which is a pretty bold statement in and of itself. Audiences will find out how true that is when the movie hits theaters next month, but the early buzz for Gladiator II has certainly been strong. Perhaps Gladiator II will ultimately be as successful, both with box office dollars and awards, as its predecessor.

We see it all the time, serious actors with some major dramatic skills tearing it up in lighter, more comedic roles. Actors who’ve made us cry in Best Picture winners have gone on to make us fall over with side-splitting laughs, which can sometimes be harder than you’d think.

In the past, we’ve talked about some of the great dramatic performances by comedians, but today we’re going to turn our attention to the other side of that coin and highlight 32 serious actors who crushed in in comedic roles.

Robert De Niro (Meet The Parents)

Robert De Niro, an Oscar-winning actor known for serious parts in some of Martin Scorsese’s best movies, including Raging Bull and Goodfellas, as well as his turn as a young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II, showed the world that he was also one of the funniest stars in Hollywood with his portrayal of the iron-fisted Jack Byrnes in Meet the Parents. The deadpan expressions, the playing on his gangster roles, and his chemistry with Ben Stiller make this an all-time classic.

George C. Scott (Dr. Stranglelove)

George C. Scott will always be remembered for his portrayal of U.S. General George S. Patton in Franklin J. Schaffner’s Patton, but the acclaimed actor also crushed it in a more comedic role a few years earlier. His take on General Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove is nothing short of magnificent and hilarious as it gets. The satirical tone of this iconic anti-war film is biting, as is Scott’s legendary performance.

Philip Seymour Hoffman (Along Came Polly)

Though we could have included Rusty from Twister or Brandt from The Big Lebowski, Philip Seymour Hoffman’s performance in Along Came Polly is just too good to overlook. Though he’s atrocious at basketball (and in most social situations), Sandy Lyle is a force of comedic nature. It’s crazy that Hoffman went from Cold Mountain to this 2004 rom-com to Capote in the span of three years.

Tom Cruise (Tropic Thunder)

Tom Cruise steals the show in Tropic Thunder, which is no easy feat considering Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Robert Downey Jr. sit atop the cast of this outrageous 2008 action comedy. But hey, Les Grossman, Cruise’s over-the-top and ill-tempered Hollywood exec is unforgettable in every single one of his scenes, especially whenever he dances.

Meryl Streep (Death Becomes Her)

Though not a slapstick or “laugh-a-minute” comedy, Death Becomes Her does feature some wild and hilariously comedic performances from the likes of Bruce Willis, Goldie Hawn, and Meryl Streep, who kills it with her portrayal of Madeline Ashton. The Oscar winner does get to show off her serious skills in the movie, but her character’s darkly humorous personality is worth a watch.

Leslie Nielsen (Airplane!)

It’s wild to think that Leslie Nielsen, an actor mostly remembered for spoof films, started out as a very serious dramatic actor. But that all changed with landmark comedies like Airplane!, where his deadpan humor and signature charm truly shined.

Kate Winslet (The Holiday)

Kate Winslet is known for dramatic movies like Titanic, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Revolutionary Road, but the talented dramatic actress was able to show off her comedy chops in The Holiday. This 2006 Nancy Meyers romantic comedy showed off a different side of Winslet, one we haven’t forgotten nearly 20 years later.

James Caan (Elf)

James Caan wasn’t really known for his comedy. Sure, his characters had some humorous lines in The Godfather and Thief, but drama was always his bag. And that’s what makes his performance in Elf so great. We weren’t used to seeing Caan share the screen with someone like Will Ferrell, and that juxtaposition of personalities made it so much fun to watch.

Morgan Freeman (Bruce Almighty)

Morgan Freeman will go down as one of the best dramatic actors of all time, and for good reason. His work in The Shawshank Redemption, Glory, and countless other movies is the stuff of legend. However, let’s not forget that he also put on one of the funniest performances when he played God in Bruce Almighty.

Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

A little more than two decades after playing the vile Amon Goeth in Schindler’s List (and only a few years after portraying Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter movies), Ralph Fiennes proved he was a great comedic actor with his take on M. Gustave in The Grand Budapest Hotel. Equal parts hilarious and charming, this performance was a breath of fresh air.

Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon)

After playing more serious roles in films like The Color Purple, Witness, and Silverado, Danny Glover showed off his comedy skills in Richard Donner’s iconic buddy cop action film, Lethal Weapon. Though he was more straight-laced compared to Mel Gibson’s Martin Riggs, Roger Murtaugh gave us some laughs.

Arnold Schwarzenegger (Kidergarten Cop)

Kindergarten cop isn’t just one of the funniest Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, it’s also one of his best. Featuring some of the actor’s most memorable one-liners, this 1990 action comedy showed that the Austrian bodybuilder-turned-actor was more than an ice-cold robot or trained killer.

Jeff Daniels (Dumb & Dumber)

Two years after playing Colonel Joshua Chamberlain in Gettysburg, one of the best Civil War movies ever made, Jeff Daniels played a vastly different type of character in Dumb and Dumber. The obnoxious and absurdly dim-witted Harry Dunne would end up becoming one of the more dramatic actor’s most famous roles.

Jack Nicholson (As Good As It Gets)

Jack Nicholson, one of the most well-known dramatic actors of the 20th century, has popped up in comedies over the years. Perhaps the best of the bunch, As Good as It Gets earned the One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Terms of Endearment star his third Oscar.

Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski)

Whenever the topic of the best Jeff Bridges movies comes up, it doesn’t take long for the conversation to turn to The Big Lebowski. Still considered to be one of his most iconic roles, the performance also showed that the largely dramatic actor could pull off an incredibly funny and beloved character.

Liam Neeson (Extras)

Liam Neeson is best known for his work in dramas like Schindler’s List and the Taken action movie franchise, but the decorated actor with that ice-cold delivery has shown off his funny side over the years. His attempt at improv on Extras is the stuff of legend, as is work in The Lego Movie.

George Clooney (O Brother, Where Art Thou?)

George Clooney often rides the line between comedy and drama in the likes of the Ocean’s movies and several Coen Brothers projects, and one of the best examples of that is found in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a 2000 loose adaptation of The Odyssey. The scheming and conniving Ulysses Everett McGill is one of the all-time great movie characters.

Dustin Hoffman (Tootsie)

The Graduate, Kramer vs. Kramer, Midnight Cowboy, and All the President’s Men were just a few of the movies that showed off Dustin Hoffman’s incredible dramatic acting skills. It’s a similar story with Tootsie, the beloved 1982 comedy in which Hoffman plays an unlikeable and hirable actor who decides to dress like a woman to land a gig on a daytime soap opera.

Cuba Gooding Jr. (Jerry Maguire)

Cuba Gooding Jr. was out of this world in early 1990s dramas like Boyz n the Hood and A Few Good Men, but he was even better in Jerry Maguire as Tom Cruise’s titular character’s temperamental and needy client Rod Tidwell. The over-the-top performance was hilarious beyond belief.

Timothy Dalton (Hot Fuzz)

Timothy Dalton, an actor best known for playing James Bond and showing up in adaptations of Jane Eyre, got to show off his comedy chops in Hot Fuzz, Edgar Wright’s satirical action comedy. His take on Simon Skinner is just as great all these years later.

Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)

Leonardo DiCaprio teamed up with Martin Scorsese for the fifth time in 2013 to make The Wolf of Wall Street. While previous collaborations like Gangs of New York and The Departed were far more dramatic, this hopped-up and raucous biopic allowed the actor to be outrageously funny on screen, and it paid off.

Billy Bob Thornton (Bad Santa)

Up until starring in Bad Santa, Billy Bob Thornton was mostly known for dramatic roles in films like Monster’s Ball and Sling Blade, but this 2003 R-rated comedy changed all of that. Over the line, vulgar, and one of the funniest performances of the 2000s, Thornton’s take on a mall Santa was an instant classic.

Brad Pitt (Burn After Reading)

Burn After Reading isn’t the best Coen Brothers movie, but it does feature one of Brad Pitt’s funniest performances. Chad Feldheimer, Linda Litzke’s (Frances McDormand) lovable yet moronic coworker is just so silly, so memorable, and so dumb. You just can’t help but love him.

Michael Caine (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)

On top of being an actor who’s appeared in the most Christopher Nolan movies, Michael Caine is also one of the all-time greats of screen and stage, with dozens of iconic films to his name. And while he’s mostly known for his dramatic work, his portrayal of the dastardly Lawrence Jamieson in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is so dang good.

Matt Damon (Dogma)

Long before he showed up as an actor playing Loki in Thor: Ragnarok, Matt Damon did it for real in Kevin Smith’s 1999 comedy, Dogma. Sandwiched between Rounders and The Talented Mr. Ripley, the actor’s portrayal of a fallen angel banished to Wisconsin was great and showed a funnier side.

Samuel L. Jackson (The Other Guys)

Samuel L. Jackson in The Other Guys is on a whole other level and is funnier than anything else the actor has done over the years. Sure, Pulp Fiction and Jurassic Park are better movies, but his short yet memorable performance as a gung-ho cop who throws caution (and himself) into the win is comedy cold.

Alan Rickman (Galaxy Quest)

Alan Rickman’s portrayal of Alexander Dane, a Shakespearean actor fed up with life and his career direction in Galaxy Quest, is so funny yet so heartbreaking. The way the Die Hard actor (who was also classically trained) finds the balance between comedy and tragedy is perfection.

Russell Crowe (The Nice Guys)

Russell Crowe made a career out of giving commanding, and largely dramatic, performances in everything from Romper Stomper to Gladiator, so it was great to see him play a more comedic role in The Nice Guys. This 2016 Shane Black film also starring Ryan Gosling, felt like a throwback to buddy action movies of yesteryear, and allowed Crowe to try a different approach to character-driven stories.

Mandy Patinkin (The Princess Bride)

Tony and Primetime Emmy Award-winning actor Mandy Patinkin has given incredible dramatic performances in movies like Yentl and shows like Homeland, but he’s probably best known for his portrayal of Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride. The skill with a sword, the dashing good looks, and a killer backstory make this not only a great cinematic character but also a hilarious icon of the fantasy genre.

Kevin Kline (A Fish Called Wanda)

Kevin Kline is great in just about everything (especially The Big Chill and Dave), and that includes some great comedies. One of the best featuring a serious and dramatic actor’s work is A Fish Called Wanda. The despicable and charismatic Otto West steals the show whenever on screen.

Christian Bale (The Big Short)

Though not the most standard comedy of the past few years, The Big Short is funny in a frightening and thrilling kind of way. Adam McKay’s biographical crime dramedy about the events that led to the 2007 housing market crash and subsequent economic crisis does feature one of Christian Bale’s most interesting and hilarious performances with his take on hedge fund manager Michael Burry. Not a totally likable guy, but a great character without a doubt.

Chris Hemsworth (Thor: Ragnarok)

Thor: Ragnarok is still considered one of the best Marvel movies years after its release, and that’s mostly because of Chris Hemsworth’s new and improved portrayal of the “God of Thunder.” While the character was more serious in the first two movies (and two Avengers films), the more light-hearted and silly superhero was a comedy tour de force.

In our lifetimes, the only turn of a century we’ve witnessed is the move from the 1990s to the 2000s. It was an exciting time in the world of Hollywood, between superhero franchises like the Spider-Man and X-Men trilogies making comic books mainstream and adaptations of book series like Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter films becoming some of the biggest blockbusters of the decade. But, many of the best movies of the 2000s wouldn’t have been possible without the star power of several actors of the time. 

In celebration of an incredible decade in movies, we chose the quintessential film of 32 actors of the 2000s. Check it out: 

Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl)

Johnny Depp was unquestionably one of the biggest stars of the 2000s after previously making a name for himself throughout the 1990s, most notably with his work with Tim Burton and in the independent film space. Looking back, the No. 1 movie of his was his debut as Captain Jack Sparrow in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie in 2003. The actor helped create the best fumbling pirate we’ve ever seen before, going on to make four more of its kind. Fans are still talking about this movie and even writing and signing petitions for the actor to reprise the role. 

Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge!)

Nicole Kidman was one of the most in demand actresses of the 2000s, so much so that she did an average of three movies a year across the first half of it. Her greatest movie of the decade is actually the first of them from that time period: Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! The jukebox musical was a commercial success, award season darling and we’ll always go back to her role as Satine. 

Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) 

After Robert Downey Jr. was in the public eye for addiction-related setbacks, he found a way to make a comeback throughout the 2000s with a ton of great movies like Zodiac, Good Night and Good Luck and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. But the best of the best was his turn as Iron Man in 2008. 

Samuel L. Jackson (Unbreakable) 

Samuel L. Jackson was a major fixture of the 1990s, between saying “Hold onto your butts!” in Jurassic Park, starring in Pulp Fiction or starring with Bruce Willis in Die Hard with a Vengeance. His prominence as an actor remained strong in the 2000s with all sorts of roles, including as Mace Windu in Star Wars, but his greatest is in M. Night Shyamalan’s unique superhero film, Unbreakable. 

Scarlett Johansson (Lost In Translation)

Scarlett Johansson was a major star in the 2010s, especially as an Avenger, but she really blossomed into this throughout the 2000s, between movies like Ghost World, Match Point, The Island or The Prestige. The performance that really carried the audience’s love for her throughout the decade was in Sofia Coppola’s Lost In Translation alongside Bill Murray, where they play unlikely friends who meet in Tokyo. 

 Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness)

After Will Smith had a hugely successful decade in the '90s between Bad Boys, Independence Day and being The Fresh Prince, Smith notably took his career a step further in the 2000s. He took on a number of more dramatic roles like Ali and Seven Pounds during this time that deserved the actor an Oscar, but there’s no movie more special than 2006’s The Pursuit of Happyness. In the film, he helped tell the true story of a homeless salesman and his son. 

Reese Witherspoon (Legally Blonde)

“What, like it’s hard?” Of course, the defining Reese Witherspoon movie of the 2000s is Legally Blonde! The 2001 movie continues to be one of the most quotable comedies and Elle Woods is a beloved heroine in modern pop culture. As a whole, Witherspoon was serving throughout the decade by also starring in things like the Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line or the rom-coms Sweet Home Alabama and Just Like Heaven.

Brad Pitt (Inglourious Basterds)

The 2000s was a huge decade of career expansion for Brad Pitt after his heartthrob beginnings in critically-acclaimed '90s flicks such as Interview with a Vampire, Seven, Fight Club. The cream of the crop for a very busy Pitt during this time has to be Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, where he played Lt. Aldo Raine in an alternate history story about World War II. 

Jim Carrey (Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind)

The stardom of Jim Carrey was deep in the fixture of 2000s movies through a ton of big movies like How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Bruce Almighty or Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. But one of the actor’s most dramatic roles, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, stands as his best of the decade. The sci-fi romance imagines a world where one could have a procedure to forget their ex, and asks big questions about memory and love. 

Kate Hudson (Almost Famous) 

Kate Hudson has called Almost Famous “the beginning of everything” for her, and it really was career-wise for the actress. When the movie came out in 2000, it started a massive decade for her that would have her in flicks like How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days, The Skeleton Key and Nine among a ton of roles. The Cameron Crowe movie had Hudson playing Penny Lane, a groupie of a '70s band. 

Tom Hanks (Cast Away)

The 2000s marked Tom Hanks third decade as a movie star and it was another solid time for the actor, particularly for more serious roles. While there are a lot of close contenders like Road To Perdition, Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal, his greatest movie of that time was Cast Away. Hanks gives an all-time performance as a man who gets stranded on an island alone. We never knew we could cry over a volleyball before the 2000 movie. 

Meryl Streep (Mamma Mia!)

Meryl Streep turned 50 in 1999. While that historically has spelled bad news for female actors in Hollywood, Streep proved she could still be one of the biggest stars in her middle-aged years with a ton of performances in the 2000s. From Adaptation to The Hours, The Devil Wear Prada, Lions For Lambs, Doubt, Julie & Julia, Fantastic Mr. Fox and It’s Complicated, this time was an embarrassment of riches for the actress, but if we had to pick one, the iconic Mamma Mia! is the one we’re still singing all the words to. 

Denzel Washington (Training Day)

Denzel Washington’s place as one of the most impressive living actors was apparent in the 2000s through a productive decade full of critically-acclaimed performances. The ultimate Washington movie of the time we’ve chosen is 2001’s Training Day, which in turn earned him his second Oscar win. But, the actor made a ton of great hits during this time like Remember The Titans, Antwone Fisher, Man on Fire, Inside Man, American Gangster and The Great Debaters. 

Tom Cruise (Minority Report) 

After Tom Cruise starred in movies like Rain Man, Top Gun, the first Mission: Impossible and Magnolia in the '80s and '90s, he continued to be a major actor into the 2000s with a ton of fresh roles. His best of the decade is arguably one of his two collaborations with Steven Spielberg, Minority Report. The sci-fi flick has Cruise’s character on the run for a crime he has not committed in an imagined 2054. 

Julia Roberts (Erin Brockovich)

Julia Roberts made a string of romantic comedies in the ‘90s, but when the new century came along, she diversified her career with a lot more dramatic roles. Her best movie during this time was in 2000’s Erin Brockovich. The biographical movie from Steven Soderbergh about groundwater contamination also earned Roberts an Oscar for Best Actress. 

Matt Damon (The Bourne Identity) 

It felt like Matt Damon was in all the movies back in the 2000s after he and Ben Affleck wowed Hollywood with Good Will Hunting in 1997. The actor was in 20 movies across this decade, but the best of them was 2002's action thriller The Bourne Identity. He would go on to star in an entire trilogy as Jason Bourne. 

Leonardo DiCaprio (Catch Me If You Can) 

Leonardo DiCaprio became a verified movie star when he said “I’m king of the world!” in 1997’s Titanic. As he moved into his mid-twenties and thirties in the 2000s, he started working closely with Martin Scorsese in a series of movies (Gangs Of New York, The Aviator and The Departed). However, his best comes from Steven Spielberg with Catch Me If You Can. The biographical crime comedy had DiCaprio playing a con man alongside Tom Hanks. 

Kirsten Dunst (Marie Antoinette)

Kirsten Dunst got her start as a child actor in the '90s in movies such as Jumanji and Interview with a Vampire before starring in films like The Virgin Suicides and Drop Dead Gorgeous at the tail end of the '90s. Dunst officially became an adult in the 2000s and made tons of movies, from being Mary-Jane Watson in the Spider-Man movies to being in Bring It On. Her second collaboration with Sofia Coppola as the famed French archduchess is her best work of the decade. 

Adam Sandler (Punch-Drunk Love)

Even though the 2000s didn’t quite top Adam Sandler’s amazing Saturday Night Live star into movie star turn, he was in all sorts of memorable movies in the 2000s. The one that sticks out the most is his collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson with 2002’s Punch-Drunk Love. Unlike his screwball comedies, it’s an earnest rom-com that may not have been popular, but it is unforgettable. 

Will Ferrell - Anchorman

Will Ferrell’s acting career really took off in the 2000s in a massive way. He left Saturday Night Live in 2002 after seven seasons on the sketch show and became one of the funniest Hollywood movie stars. His most hilarious leading role has to be in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, where he played a 1970s news host. 

George Clooney (Ocean’s Eleven)

It’s not easy to choose the best George Clooney role of the 2000s given the sheer amount of solid movies he starred in at the time. From his Coen Brothers’ movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? to his Oscar-winning role in Syriana. But, it simply wouldn’t have been the 2000s without Clooney leading the pack in Ocean’s Eleven (and the trilogy it became). He’s effortlessly cool as the master plotter of a casino heist. 

Gwyneth Paltrow (The Royal Tenenbaums) 

Paltrow was in a load of films during this decade, coming off her Oscar win in Shakespeare In Love. But, among a cast including Owen Wilson, Danny Glover, Gene Hackman, Bill Murray, Anjelica Huston and Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow’s Margot stole the show and therefore finds a spot as her No.1 2000s role. 

Halle Berry (Monster's Ball) 

The 2000s was an iconic moment for Halle Berry, who became Storm in X-Men and starred in Catwoman and as a Bond girl in Die Another Day. Her best role is her Oscar-winning lead in 2001’s Monster’s Ball. The movie is about a widower who unknowingly begins a relationship with a corrections officer who assisted in the execution of her late husband. 

Christian Bale (The Dark Knight) 

Christian Bale started the 2000s as the star of American Psycho and ended it as the star of Michael Mann’s Public Enemies alongside Johnny Depp. But unquestionably, Bale’s performance in one of the most seminal movies of the 2000s, The Dark Knight, is our pick. His second outing as Bruce Wayne/Batman is elevated when Heath Ledger’s haunting Joker struts into Gotham. 

Jennifer Garner (13 Going On 30) 

During the 2000s, Jennifer Garner became famous for starring in the TV show Alias. But at the same time, she established herself as a movie star, too. What caught our hearts the most was her role in 13 Going On 30 alongside Mark Ruffalo. It’s a blast to see the actress play a teen in an adult’s body. 

Ben Stiller (Tropic Thunder) 

The 2000s had Ben Stiller becoming a movie star in his own right, between the hilarious Meet The Parents in 2000, to Zoolander and Along Came Polly. His best movie of this era was one he wrote, directed and starred in. Tropic Thunder is a hilarious satirical action comedy with a star-studded cast that we’re still laughing about over a decade later. 

Russell Crowe (A Beautiful Mind) 

After becoming a familiar face for his roles in the '90s, Russell Crowe became an all-time great actor of the 2000s by starring in Gladiator, Cinderella Man, American Gangster, Master and Commander and 3:10 To Yuma. If you’ve seen his performance in 2001’s A Beautiful Mind, you likely never forgot Crowe’s inspired performance as schizophrenic mathematician John Nash. 

Nicolas Cage (Adaptation) 

Nicolas Cage’s third decade in movies was a busy one that had him in more big-budget movies than ever between National Treasure and Ghost Rider, but Spike Jonze’s Adaptation takes the prize as he played twin brothers, one struggling with writer’s block and the other deciding to copy his brother’s ambitions.

Keira Knightley (Pride & Prejudice) 

Keira Knightley turned fifteen when the 21st century began, but it wasn’t long before she became a movie star – leading movies like Bend it Like Beckham, Pirates of the Caribbean and Love, Actually. The defining Knightley performance of her first decade as a big-screen actress was in the film adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. 

Jack Black (School of Rock) 

Jack Black had a massive decade in movies in the 2000s, but one cannot forget how perfect he was in the role of Dewey Finn in School of Rock. The 2003 movie allowed the actor to flex his musician muscles and unique charm as he played a failed rock star turned imposter substitute teacher. 

Drew Barrymore (50 First Dates)

Drew Barrymore had the chance to come into her own as a movie star in her adulthood in the 2000s following being a child actor in films like E.T. and Firestarter. She had an awesome decade that included Charlie’s Angels, He’s Just Not That Into You and Whip It, but her role with Adam Sandler as a forgetful love interest remains one of her best and most hilarious (yet heartwarming) roles. 

Hugh Jackman (The Prestige) 

Hugh Jackman started his career in theater in the '90s, but in the 2000s he quickly became a big star. Sure, he became Wolverine for the first time in the X-Men movies, played Van Helsing and starred in Kate & Leopold, but it was particularly special to see his role in Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige. He’s amazing as a magician who feuds with Christian Bale’s character over the ultimate magic trick. 

Anyone else feeling nostalgic for the decade of the 2000s, now? It was an amazing time for great movies and the movie stars we saw everywhere like the people above. 

As we move closer to fall, the takes surrounding the upcoming Jake Paul and Mike Tyson bout are ramping back up. Mike Tyson has responded to doubters who don't think his experience will outweigh his age against a fighter 30 years younger, and I don't think anyone will stop that talk until we're all watching the November fight via Netflix subscription. That said, Russell Crowe had an interesting take on why Tyson shouldn't go forward with it, and I kind of agree.

Internet personalities like KSI think it's a terrible idea, and that Jake Paul is destined to lose to Mike Tyson, but we haven't heard much about the other way around until now. Actor Russell Crowe, who starred in one of the greatest boxing movies of all time, Cinderella Man, gave his thoughts on why Tyson shouldn't do the fight on the Joe Rogan Experience, and I'm shocked no one has spoken loudly about this sooner:

At his athletic peak, Mike Tyson could be considered one of the greatest athletes who ever lived. His devastating knockout power was lauded by many of his contemporaries, but all good things must come to an end. It seemed like Tyson had put boxing behind him and was content to host bonkers podcasts and talk about sleeping with his tigers. But a return to the ring is clearly important to him in one way or another.

I, too, have enjoyed the second phase of Mike Tyson's career, but will counter Russell Crowe's point with another. If there's one thing I've learned about Tyson after watching him make cameos in movies and taking recreational drugs, he seems to crave new experiences and adventure. He's basically living out the plot of Rocky Balboa in real life, and I can't think of a bigger adventure than that.

Perhaps what's happening here is that we're seeing Mike Tyson marry the first act of his life to the second. Based on all his responses to the press so far and his fight training videos, he still seems like a fierce competitor. Plus, the money he's making from the Jake Paul bout will almost surely pay for a lot more creative endeavors for the fighter and maybe cybernetic enhancements to improve his body for a rematch should he lose the fight. Hey, Tyson can be a wild dude. I would not put it past him to look into becoming a cyborg!

We're on track to watch Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul on Netflix on November 15th. Make sure that subscription is up to date before the big fight night, and continue to stay with CinemaBlend as we get closer for more updates on each fighter.

While Spooky Season is technically still a few months away, genre fans are getting a number of exciting scary movies this summer. The anticipated prequel A Quiet Place: Day One is arriving at the end of the month, and July and August include exciting upcoming horror films including the critically acclaimed Longlegs, MaXXXine, Cuckoo, Trap, and Alien: Romulus.  Arriving before any of those titles, however, is writer/director Joshua John Miller's The Exorcism, which is presently getting a notably mixed reaction from critics.

In the film (which has no relation to The Pope's Exorcist), Russell Crowe plays Anthony Miller – an actor who has signed on to star in a horror movie and finds himself slowly unraveling. While there is concern that there is substance abuse to blame for his behavior, the truth may actually be more in the supernatural realm. As you can probably tell, there is a bit of metatextuality at play here, but according to Emma Kiely from Collider, the comedic commentary and horror vibes don't properly play off of each other. She writes,

Writing of FilmInk Australia, Dov Kornits doesn't express a whole lot of love for the work from Oscar-winner Russell Crowe. He says that there are a couple of "serviceable" scares in the movie," but there is a vibe from the star that it's not totally engaged with the material. The critics says, 

Jennie Kermode of Eye For Film has a different take, and instead says that Russell Crowe is "in his element," and that the movie has him confronting some of his own on-set conflicts from the past. The critique also notes that Joshua John Miller is the son of Jason Miller a.k.a. Father Karras from William Friedkin's The Exorcist, and that history informs the filmmakers work:

Digital Media Talkies critic Pramit Chatterjee is also in the pro-The Exorcism camp, giving the film 3 1/2 stars out of five. The writer says that they went into the movie expecting it to be a comedy, but they were surprised to discover "a serious meditation on the evil that exists within churches."

Peter Gray of The AU Review agrees that there is some depth to the work, but that it doesn't land as a "cohesive production, despite its promising ingredients." It tries to do too much and fails to achieve what it attempts in the 93 minute runtime, according to Gray:

Also starring Ryan Simpkins, Sam Worthington, Chloe Bailey, Adam Goldberg, and David Hyde Pierce, The Exorcism is arriving in theaters this Friday, June 21. To learn about all of the films set to arrive on the big screen and streaming in the months ahead, check our our 2024 Movie Release Calendar.

Russell Crowe is a man of many talents. The A Beautiful Mind actor has done everything from cycling through Budapest's rugged terrains to trying his hand at singing and performing with his band, Indoor Garden Party. Among his diverse pursuits, one of his most fondly remembered films is the 2016 action movie The Nice Guys, an action movie that is way funnier than you’d guess. In a recent interview, the Gladiator star reminisced about working with Ryan Gosling on the Shane Black-directed film. He shared his joyful challenges, especially trying not to crack up while filming with the La La Land actor.

In a recent GQ interview, Crowe opened up about the joyful challenges he faced while filming with the Barbie star. Russell pointed out how he is known for his stone-cold demeanor. However, when it came to working with Ryan, that was easier said than done. As the Master and Commander actor tells it:

The Nice Guys, which features one of Gosling's most memorable characters, was directed by Shane Black and is set in 1970s Los Angeles and follows private eye Holland March (Ryan Gosling) and enforcer Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) as they unravel a conspiracy involving a missing girl and a dead porn star. The film’s blend of humor and action and the palpable chemistry between the L.A. Confidential actor and Gosling have earned it a dedicated fanbase.

Ryan Gosling’s comedic talents are no surprise, especially if you’ve seen his performance as Ken in Barbie or his viral stint as host on SNL. One of his most popular sketches, the Beavis and Butthead skit with Mikey Day, became a YouTube sketch sensation and was so memorable that they reprised their roles just weeks later.

On the other hand, Russell Crowe, typically known for his serious roles, shows his versatility in The Nice Guys. While he has dabbled in comedy, notably as Zeus in Thor: Love and Thunder, his performance in The Nice Guys is a refreshing change of pace. The film serves as a reminder of The Pope’s Exorcist star’s wide-ranging talent and the joy of seeing him in a lighter role. Additionally, it’s heartening to know that the on-set dynamic was as fun and lively as the chemistry on screen.

Russell Crowe is set to return to more serious roles with his 2024 movie releases. First on the schedule is The Exorcism, an upcoming horror film hitting theaters on June 21. Following that, Crowe will star in Kraven the Hunter, directed by J.C. Chandor and written by Richard Wenk, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway. This film marks the third entry in Sony’s controversial Spider-Man Universe to be released this year and is scheduled to premiere on December 13, 2024.

Whether it’s through the theatrical re-release of the original trilogy or the upcoming 2024 movie The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, author J.R.R. Tolkien’s creation continues to thrive. So of course when something this mythic continues to enter people’s minds, it presents an opportunity to keep learning new bits of trivia.

For instance, I just found out that Russell Crowe of all people turned down a pretty huge role in director Peter Jackson’s first series of LOTR adaptations. What’s better is, Crowe himself addresses this possibility, and whether or not he regretted passing on it, in true New Zealander fashion.

Russell Crowe’s Potential Lord Of The Rings Role, And Why He Passed

The famed star of Gladiator and The Nice Guys definitely isn’t the first, or last, person who passed on joining the Lord of the Rings saga. There are tons of stories out there about how actors like the late Sean Connery and Christopher Plummer turned down Gandalf. But apparently, thanks to his interview with GQ, skipping out on his potential casting was pretty easy, as this was his impression of what was really going on:

I can’t fault New Line Cinema for allegedly wanting to snag Russell Crowe for Lord of the Rings. As the trilogy was a daunting task with a relatively green director at the helm, talented box office draws were always going to play a part. With Russell Crowe’s best movies benefitting from the trifecta of L.A. Confidential, The Insider and Gladiator, that was about to put a great demand on the man’s acting abilities.

On the surface, Russell Crowe could have been great in his supposed casting as Aragorn. However, the Master and Commander star couldn’t move forward, as he seemed to know that Peter Jackson wanted someone else. That led to some further insight into why he chose the path that he eventually ventured down in his career.

How Russell Crowe Sensed Peter Jackson’s Apprehension In His Lord Of The Rings Courtship

Sometimes you just know when someone’s trying to get you to read between the lines. For Russell Crowe, that understanding came from a common background between himself and Peter Jackson. As he continued telling this story, Crowe revealed the key piece of information that made up his mind once and for all:

While that Viggo Mortensen part would become one of the major movie role recastings of our time, thanks to the man replacing Stuart Townsend, we’d eventually see things pan out the way history had intended. Especially when we got Master and Commander: Far Side of the World out of the deal; which, to be totally honest, is another bout of perfect casting.

Much like Sam Neill’s Lord of the Rings experience, Russell Crowe’s tenuous connection to Peter Jackson’s fantasy epic will always be fun to discuss. Simultaneously, it’s hard to argue with the results that eventually took hold, as Viggo Mortensen is only one part of the instantly iconic cast that made those films so special.

History as it exists is easily observable, thanks to a Max subscription, as this particular platform is currently streaming all three Lord of the Rings films. Meanwhile, Lord of the Rings: The War for the Rohirrim will be making its way to theaters starting December 13th.

So far the 2024 release schedule has only delivered one superhero movie: Madame Web, which starred Dakota Johnson as the clairvoyant Cassandra Webb and took place within Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSMU). The movie was panned by critics, with CinemaBlend’s Madame Web review giving just two stars out of five. Johnson has since admitted that she wasn’t surprised Madame Web was “ripped to shreds,” and said that she “probably will never do anything like it again.” Now Russell Crowe, an actor who knows his way around the superhero genre, has given his blunt response over Johnson’s disappointment at how her Madame Web experience turned out.

Crowe has already played Jor-El in Man of Steel and Zeus in Thor: Love and Thunder, and he’ll be seen later this year in the upcoming superhero movie Kraven the Hunter, another SSMU installment, as Nikolai Kravinoff, Kraven’s estranged father. During a conversation about his latest movie, The Exorcism, GQ brought up Dakota Johnson’s prior comments about Madame Web, including how these tentpole superhero movies can feel like art “made by a committee,” and the publication asked the Gladiator alum what his experience has been like on these kinds of productions. He answered:

Russell Crowe really didn’t pull any punches here. While there’s certainly no shortage of superhero movies that have been well received by critics, the actor’s all too aware that these kinds of tentpole pictures aren’t going to be the most artistic of cinematic offerings.

In other words, Crowe thinks Johnson shouldn’t have walked into Madame Web expecting it was going to be something like a Best Picture nominee at the Oscars, although that honor was bestowed to a superhero for the first time in 2018 for Black Panther. Regardless, Crowe knows his job is to perform the role he’s been cast for, and anything beyond that is out of his hands, assuming he’s not a producer and/or director on the project.

Despite Madame Web being a critical and commercial disappointment (it only made $100.3 million worldwide off a budget somewhere between $80-100 million), it ended up taking the #1 spot in Netflix’s Top 10 movies in the United States in late May. Still, given its performance and Dakota Johnson’s thoughts on this acting gig, it’s probably safe to assume Madame Web 2 isn’t in the cards. As for Kraven the Hunter, along with Aaron Taylor-Johnson playing the title character, Russell Crowe’s costars include Ariana DeBose as Calypso, Fred Hechinger as The Chameleon, Alessandro Nivola as The Rhino and Christopher Abbott as The Foreigner.

Directed by J.C. Chandor and written by Richard Wenk, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, Kraven the Hunter opens in theaters on December 13. It will arrive a little under two months after the next SSMU movie, Venom: The Last Dance.

Ridley Scott had talked about making a sequel to his Oscar-winning hit Gladiator for years, and fans had the same question the entire time. How will that work if Russell Crowe’s hero Maximus is dead? It turns out, that even Crowe himself has questions about the movie, and he admits he’s “uncomfortable” with the fact they’re making a sequel, both because he doesn’t get to be in it, and because he has concerns about the story of Gladiator 2.

Russell Crowe appeared on the Kyle Meredith With… podcast, primarily to talk about his second career as a musician, but a conversation about playing shows in Italy led to a tangent regarding one of the best films of the 2000s, Gladiator, and its forthcoming sequel. Crowe has nothing but good things to say about his time playing Maximus, but he admits he doesn’t love that a sequel is coming because he’s heard things about the movie that don’t sit right with him. He explained…

Crowe doesn’t go into detail regarding which character he takes issue with. Based on what we know about Gladiator 2’s story, we can guess he’s probably talking about Lucius Verus, a child in the first movie who will be all grown up and the sequel's main character. However, there are also a couple of actors in the Gladiator 2 cast who are reprising their roles from the original movie so it’s possible, though less likely he could be talking about Connie Nielsen’s Lucilla or Darek Jacobi’s Gracchus

Whatever is happening with the character arc in Gladiator 2, the fact that Crowe feels so strongly about it shows just how important the story and the characters are to him. Crowe admits there is some jealousy from the fact that he’s not part of the new film, maybe because an earlier version of Gladiator 2 would have brought Crowe's character back. But even he admits that just because he may not be on screen, doesn’t mean Maximus won’t have a role. Crowe continued…

If the legacy of the first Gladiator is strong, that could mean very good things for Gladiator 2. The original film was a rare project that was both a box office smash and a major awards winner. Gladiator 2 will open in November and almost certainly try to follow the lead of the original movie in both ways.

Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Edward Norton, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kate Hudson, LaKeith Stanfield, Madelyn Cline, Ana de Armas, Dave Bautista – all those folks have appeared in a Knives Out mystery by Rian Johnson, and that’s not even scratching the surface of the A+ Knives Out cast and Glass Onion ensemble. Well, now that we know a third installment in Benoit Blanc’s whodunnit series will go into production soon, fans are throwing all their casting ideas on social media. And I sure hope the writer/director is taking notes, because these are brilliant. 

Knives Out 3 is set to go into production later this year, meaning we’ll likely find out who will make up its cast soon-ish. Between Rian Johnson’s first two films starring Daniel Craig’s detective Benoit Blanc and his Natasha Lyonne-led series Poker Face, he’s proven over and over again that he knows how to assemble an epic cast. Therefore, fans are expecting a list of greats to make up the ensemble of the third Knives Out mystery, and they have some brilliant ideas, like @tedsbecca who is campaigning for James Marsden:

James Marsden – who received an Emmy nomination for Jury Duty – is such a fabulous actor who is genuinely hilarious, and I think he’d fit in perfectly to this wacky world of mystery.

Sticking to the world of comedy, @ZoeRoseBryant called out an actress that I think many would love to see in a Rian Johnson whodunnit, posting:

The Knives Out movies always feature extremely talented up-and-coming actors – like Ana de Armas and Madelyn Cline. Considering Edebiri’s background in comedy as well as her recent rise because of her work on The Bear, audiences would be thrilled to see her in one of these movies, myself included. 

Meanwhile, @CoyJandreau was looking back at other iconic mystery movies for his dream cast. Considering we sadly might never get a Nice Guys sequel, I’m 100% on board with him fan-casting Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe in Knives Out 3:

When it comes to @heyitsjennalynn’s take, she noted that she’s willing to die on the hill of getting 2023 Oscar-winner Ke Huy Quan into the threequel, and I would die on that hill too:

There were also some fun unconventional picks for Knives Out 3 ensemble members. However, considering Stephen Sondheim and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made cameos at the same time in Glass Onion, nothing is impossible. So, @hpeeryhorton, I hope your dream comes true:

People really have some brilliant and unique ideas for the Knives Out 3 cast, and I’m so here for them. Along with the fun ones highlighted above, here are a few more fun requests for the Oscar-nominated writer:

• Zendaya , Sarah Drew, Sofia Vergara ans Viola Davis. i mean....The power!! -@BellamyKeppner 
• Funny Adam Driver would be top tier -@eva_kirby21 
• here’s how I get Pedro [Pascal] and Kieran [Culkin] in a movie together, walk with me here -@sottgoods 
• Aubrey Plaza and Jenna Ortega! They would be amazing together. 🤣 -@imtiffanyblair 
• Jennifer Lawrence would be PERFECT in a film like this -@_Syncopy_ 
• I'm here to spread the Sam Rockwell for Knives Out 3 agenda again -@NeonTravesty 

Really, the possibilities are endless, and I can’t wait to see the cast Rian Johnson assembles for his next Knives Out mystery.

It seems highly unlikely that the third Benoit Blanc whodunnit will premiere on the 2024 movie schedule since reports say it will go into production toward the end of this year. However, I suspect that we’ll learn about who ends up in the film as it starts to shoot, and hopefully, some of the names mentioned above will be part of it. 

Sir Ridley Scott has enjoyed a long and illustrious career, one that extends all the way back to Alien and Blade Runner (two of his absolute best) and continues to the historical epic Napoleon, which is enjoying a theatrical run before making its way to AppleTV+ later on this year. The prolific director, who is staying busy well into his eighties, is moving right back to Gladiator 2, which was delayed thanks to the SAG-AFTRA strike but is ready to resume production ahead of a planned 2024 release. The long-awaited sequel to Scott’s Oscar-winning Gladiator has gone through multiple iterations over the years, many of which we break down here, and during a recent conversation, the director gave more details to the opening scene he had crafted that would have used original Gladiator star, Russell Crowe. 

Ridley Scott was a guest on CinemaBlend’s official podcast, ReelBlend, to talk all things Napoleon. And towards the end of the conversation, we brought up Gladiator 2, knowing that the director was in the middle of his shoot. We mentioned the fact that there have been numerous versions of Gladiator 2 available for people, and brought up the ones that once included Russell Crowe. As you likely will recall, Crowe’s character Maximus dies in the arena, having faced down Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). But Scott figured out how to bring Crowe back, and once envisioned a Gladiator 2 movie that opened as such: 

Where the story went from there is anyone’s guess. Gladiator 2 stopped and started for so many reasons, leading to a near 25-year gap between the initial movie and the pending sequel. And while it’s unlikely that Crowe appears in the movie, the cast that Ridley Scott has assembled will melt anyone’s face. Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, Paul Mescal, Djimon Hounsou, Joseph Quinn and more will be part of Scott’s sequel. And now, hopefully, people can stop asking Russell Crowe about the Gladiator sequel, because you know he’s been dealing with that inquiry for two decades. 

Here’s the full interview with Sir Ridley Scott on the ReelBlend podcast:

And make sure that you are bookmarking our guide to all of the upcoming 2024 movies hitting theaters. It includes Gladiator 2, of course, but also lays out the calendar year and will stay updated as dates and titles change, because you know that shifts inevitably occur. 

Entertainers are entertainers. There are singers who can act, and there are actors who can sing. While the world is full of the former crossing over successfully, the latter is less successful, but that doesn't mean they aren't great singers, so here's our list of actors that have tried singing, whether they were hits or not. 

Bruce Willis

In 1987 Bruce Willis was at the top of his game. A year before everyone's favorite Christmas movie, Die Hard, came out, Willis did a made-for-HBO movie called The Return of Bruno where he played a blues singer. Willis spun that into an album of the same name and his singing career was off. While it's actually a decent album, the two follow-ups were bombs and that was where things pretty much ended for his singing career. 

Jennifer Love Hewitt

Jennifer Love Hewitt has been singing as long as she's been performing on screen. As a ten-year-old, Hewitt sang backup on the hit song "Toy Soldiers" by Martika, and at 12 she recorded her first album. She has a great voice, but she's never seen real crossover success. 

Don Johnson

Miami Vice was a monster hit in the mid-'80s and Don Johnson spun that into a record deal. He recorded his first album, Heartbeat, in 1986 and it was actually a moderate success, especially in Germany. His follow-up, Let It Roll also sold well in Europe, but didn't chart in the US, so his brief-though-somewhat-successful career as a singer was over. 

Jada Pinkett Smith

Did you know that Jada Pinkett Smith sang in a Nu Metal band in the early aughts? Yep, a band she formed called Wicked Wisdom even toured with Ozzfest and opened for Britney Spears. Pinkett is a solid singer and the band is very good, but it was short-lived, releasing just two albums, the last in 2006. 

Russell Crowe

Russell Crowe has been playing guitar and singing rock and roll for decades. He continues to occasionally play concerts, usually for charity and every once in a while he'll show up on stage with a big star. Like when he joined fellow Aussie Keith Urban in 2012 to play some Johnny Cash. 

Jamie Foxx

Jamie Foxx is the rare example of an actor having a very successful music career as well. He's got platinum albums, he's won a Grammy, and he'll forever be known for his guest spot in Kanye West's "Gold Digger." 

Burt Reynolds

Burt Reynolds sang in the musical At Long Last Love, and he once did a duet in a movie with the legend herself, Dolly Parton. Before all that though, he attempted to find a hit in the music business when he released a country album called Ask Me What I Am in 1973. I'm the biggest Burt Reynolds fan you'll ever meet and even I can admit it's a pretty rough album. 

Zooey Deschanel

When M. Ward first heard Zooey Deschanel sing in Elf, he was amazed. Later he learned she also wrote and played music. That was enough to start the duo She & Him, and Ward and Deschanel have been working on the project off and one for 15 years now. Together they've released seven successful albums, the latest a tribute to Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson that is very, very good. Deschanel even met her boyfriend Jonathon Scott while singing on Car Pool Karaoke. 

Jeremy Renner

As if Jeremy Renner's inspiring recovery from a snow plow accident isn't enough, the multitalented star has also released his first couple of EPs over the last few years. The Avengers star is a multi-instrumentalist and can sing too. There's almost nothing he can't do, it seems. 

William Shatner

It's always been a little hard to tell if William Shatner's music career is serious, or a joke. At times it seems like it could be either. One thing I can say about it is that if you've never heard Shatner's version of Pulp's "Common People", seek it out, it is truly excellent. 

Eddie Murphy

Very early in this career, Eddie Murphy started singing comedy songs on his albums. That inspired him to take a shot a serious music and his first single "Party All The Time" was a hit. It reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Sadly, that would be the high point for the actor's music career.  

Corey Feldman

You have to appreciate how hard Corey Feldman is trying to make a music career take off. He tours a lot, playing live, and giving it his all in every performance. For it, he takes an endless amount of grief, but that just makes us root a little harder for him. The music isn't for me, but I applaud the effort. 

Emma Roberts

Emma Roberts is Hollywood royalty who got her first really big break (though not her first gig, that was in Blow) on the Nickelodeon show Unfabulous. For the show, where she played a middle school singer/songwriter, she recorded quite a bit of music and even released an album. In the end, it was her acting that took off and music took a backseat. At least so far. 

Jared Leto

Obviously, Jared Leto has to be on this list. His band, Thirty Seconds to Mars, which he formed with his brother in 1998, is wildly successful. They've sold more than 15 million albums and played sold-out shows around the world. He's by far the most successful musician on this list. 

Alyssa Milano

Alyssa Milano's music career never made much of a wave in the U.S., but in Japan, she was actually really popular. She released four albums on a Japanese record label and one even went platinum. It's a small tidbit of her career that doesn't get talked about much. 

Tom Hardy

Before Tom Hardy landed the first role of his career in Black Hawk Down in 2001, the British actor took a swing at a rap career. He recorded a mixtape called Tommy No 1 and Eddie Too Tall in 1999, though it didn't see the light of day until well after Hardy became famous, in 2018. It's actually pretty good too. 

Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay Lohan has had a lot of ups and downs in her career, and one thing that could fall under both was her brief foray into music. Lohan was at the height of her Disney career, on the verge of the release of her most beloved movie, Mean Girls, when she was signed to Tommy Mottola's Casablanca Records. The two albums she recorded sold okay, but after the second, her career as a singer was over. 

Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett Johansson's first album, Anywhere I Lay My Head, released in 1998, features members of TV on the Radio, and even David Bowie sings on two tracks. Most of the songs were written or co-written by the great Tom Waits. Unfortunately, it just didn't sell all that well. Her follow-up, Break Up, recorded with Pete Yorn sold a little better, but not enough to sustain more of a career in music. She also released a song in 2015 called "Candy" with a short-lived band, The Singles, with Este Haim.

Hayden Panettiere

On Nashville, Hayden Panettiere played a country singer/songwriter living in Nashville, so naturally, she sang a lot on the show. She even recorded and released a few songs from the show. Panettiere was also nominated for a Grammy early in her career for her singing parts in A Bug's Life. In 2008, she branched out with a more pop-oriented sound and while she undoubtedly has some serious singing chops, the song "Wake Up Call" is more famous today for the video starring herself and Sebastian Stan. 

Joe Pesci

When you think of performers with silky smooth voices, Joe Pesci probably isn't the first name that comes to mind. Still, the Goodfellas star has been singing publicly since the 1960s when he released an album called Little Joe Sure Can Sing! After the huge success of My Cousin Vinny, Pesci released another album sort of in character, called Vincent LaGuardia Gambini Sings Just for You which is part comedy, part serious. It's not all that great, but he's not a bad singer. 

Kevin Bacon

The Bacon Brothers, Micheal and Kevin Bacon have been recording and touring for almost 30 years now. It's always been a passion for the Footloose star and it's clear he takes the band as seriously as he takes his acting. 

Robert Downey, Jr.

The whole world for Robert Downey, Jr. changed in 2008 when the first Iron Man was released. Downey had been a star for years, but the role took him to world superstardom. Right before that, he recorded his first album, 2006's The Futurist. The album had disappointing sales, and Downey dedicated his working life to the MCU and never seemed to find time for a follow-up.  

Steven Seagal

Like most things Steven Seagal does these days, his music career is pretty odd. He's a guitar player and blues singer who has released two albums and still plays live occasionally. While the music is not terrible by any means, it's also not all that interesting. 

Brie Larson

Brie Larson started in the music business when she was just 16. She was signed by Casablanca Records and recorded an album called Finally Out of P.E. However, the Marvels star eventually moved her focus to her acting career. She still occasionally plays guitar and sings little ditties on her YouTube page. 

Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow's singing has mostly been attached to her acting career, with her most famous song, "Country Strong" coming from the soundtrack of the movie of the same name. Paltrow does all the singing herself, and it's actually pretty great. She also flirted with more music-related stuff earlier in her career, including recording a duet with Huey Lewis. She should consider doing more! 

Milla Jovovich

The 1990s were full of ethereal singers like Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star and Milla Jovovich's brief foray into music fit very well in that style. Her breathy style was very much of the time. One song that I can certainly recommend is her version of Lou Reed's "Satellite of Love" from the soundtrack to Million Dollar Hotel.

Florence Pugh

Florence Pugh started her career as singer called Flossie Rose on a YouTube channel in the early 2010s. Once her acting career took off, her music took a backseat, but many of the videos are still available. There is some interesting stuff there, even if it's pretty simple, as she was just a teenager at the time. 

Juliette Lewis

Juliette Lewis has had a huge career revival with her powerhouse performance in Yellowjackets, but all in her professional life, she's also been a singer. Her band, Julliette and the Licks, has been recording and playing live for almost 30 years now and as you'd expect, it's raw and in your face. 

Lucy Hale

Lucy Hale acts, hosts big TV specials, and sings. In fact, her debut album (and to date only album), Road Between, reached as high as #4 on the Billboard Country charts in 2014. It's certainly good enough for a follow-up, so maybe someday we'll get one. 

Joey Lawrence

No one else quite defines the 1990s the way Joey Lawrence does. The star of Blossom was a teen heartthrob and adorned the walls of high school girls across the country. It only makes sense he would try out a music career to capitalize on his fame. Sadly, his ambition wasn't matched by album sales. 

Scott Baio

Scott Baio starred in two huge shows in the '70s and '80s. First as Chachi on Happy Days then as the title character on Charles in Charge. Somewhere he found time to record two albums for RCA Records, but neither sold well and his music career fizzled out. 

David Duchovny

The truth is out there, and so is David Duchovny's budding musical career. He's only been at it for a few years, but he's released three albums and while the critics haven't loved his music, they haven't hated it either. He's clearly passionate about it, and it's refreshing that his albums are mostly original tunes. 

Breaking into music is hard, and while celebrities have a few built-in advantages, they don't guarantee success. For every Jared Leto, there is a Robert Downey, Jr. Still, it's always fun to hear what some of these stars have to offer, usually it's better than you expect, even when it's not great. 

Some Hollywood castings are just too iconic to imagine happening any other way. Just as we’ve seen with those persistent rumors of Ronald Reagan being offered Casablanca and that time Viggo Mortensen replaced Stuart Townsend in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, thinking of what could have been is severely intriguing. 

The world of Marvel movies in order is a place that has tons of those "what ifs" stored up. That leads us to the story of how Hugh Jackman almost wasn’t cast as X-Men’s Wolverine in 2000, and it wasn’t for lack of trying. Height, “intensity” and two different Hollywood Toms all played a part in connecting the man with his destiny, making for a wild story that’s still kind of hard to believe.

The Two Stumbling Blocks That Hugh Jackman Experienced When Auditioning For Wolverine

When director Bryan Singer’s X-Men was gearing up to get into production, it was after quite a bit of development history. Part of those events saw series comic writer Chris Claremont pointing Who Framed Roger Rabbit’s Bob Hoskins as his first choice for the part of James Howlett, more commonly known as “Logan” or “Wolverine.”

There was good reason too, as the character was known as being of a shorter and stockier build than the dreamy Hugh Jackman. When he appeared as a guest on Who’s Talking To Chris Wallace, the height difference was one of the concerns that the Australian actor mentioned as a going concern. Here’s how he recalled that very issue being addressed by then-Fox president Tom Rothman: 

Jackman even accentuated that story by walking away crouched as he concluded his remarks to Rothman, something that would come back to haunt him to a certain extent in the future. But at the moment, Hugh’s 6’3” stature seemed to be problem #1. 

Problem #2 came from the killer edge needed to play the role of Wolverine. That concern was addressed by one of X-Men’s credited screenwriters, David Hayter, during an interview with Inverse. The Watchmen screenwriter shared the perceived pros and cons of hiring Hugh Jackman as follows:

Though he made quite the impression, Hugh Jackman wasn’t meant to be cast in X-Men the first time around. Which, at the time, was good news for his competition; even if one major name turned the role down for some interesting reasons, and the eventual winner would see fate turn fickle. 

Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine Competition

Out of the candidates that were present during the X-Men Games, two need to be discussed in our story. And as luck would have it, Hugh Jackman’s interview with The Daily Beast laid out those key players as follows:

So as you can see, Dougray Scott was originally crowned as X-Men’s Wolverine. But let’s go back a minute, because a Gladiator-era Russell Crowe was offered that same role and passed on it. What in the world would have possessed Maximus Decimus Meridius, “commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the true emperor,” to pass up on popping these Marvel Comics claws? 

Well, according to a radio interview via news.com.au, it all came down a simple decision. In the context of what Crowe's caveat happened to be, you can be sure the following moment still hounds him to this very day: 

Russell Crowe was out, and despite his recommendation of Hugh Jackman, Dougray Scott was in! Things were looking up, and X-Men had its snarling madman, who undoubtedly had the same “problems” as Hugh Jackman. The Scottish actor standing an even 6’ may have inspired similar anxieties, but that didn’t stop Fox president Tom Rothman from announcing Scott’s casting in a press release (via Flickering Myth), which read as follows:

Normally, this is the point in a story such as this where the movie’s made, leaving the world to debate whether Dougray Scott’s return for Deadpool 3 is a wise move. But that story exists in a parallel universe, one where our second Hollywood Tom didn’t enter the picture. 

The Accident That Ultimately Landed Hugh Jackman As X-Men’s Wolverine

So Dougray Scott’s X-Men casting happened while he was making another movie: the espionage thriller Mission: Impossible 2. That’s right, folks, Tom Cruise is a big part of why the once-and-never Wolverine didn’t get to fulfill his potential destiny in the pre-MCU firmament. Once again, David Hayter’s interview with Inverse yielded the details as to why this fell apart, which played out as follows:

Between production delays on the second of the Mission: Impossible movies and those unfortunate injuries, Dougray Scott was off the table as Wolverine. It was Hugh Jackman’s time to shine, which led to one more crucial audition. Hayter, through his talk with Inverse, admitted to one specific factor that convinced the lot once and for all that Hugh was their man: 

While poor Dougray Scott had damaged ribs to mend, Hugh Jackman had some claws to get fitted for. And in the case of a crucial figure in X-Men history we mentioned at the top of the story, those adamantium appendages were exactly what sealed the deal for Jackman and his casting.

How X-Men Solved Hugh Jackman’s Height Problem, And Why It Was All Worth It

Once Hugh Jackman stepped into the role of Wolverine for 2000’s X-Men, there was no turning back. There apparently wasn’t a lot of standing up straight, at least for a time, while the Australian actor landed his landmark performance. Throwing it back to the Who’s Talking To Chris Wallace interview mentioned previously, Hugh detailed this solution to his taller than required stature while filming:

So Mr. Jackman charmed his way into decades of inspirational cold showers and delicious-looking Deadpool 3 cheat meals all thanks to timing and ability. But who did he have left to impress? Try X-Men comic writer Chris Claremont, a party who was very protective of the mutant. 

However that didn’t take much apparently; it was just one scene that Claremont mentioned in Inverse’s oral history of Wolverine. Sometimes the claws do make the mutant, and with the decision to make Wolverine’s claws sprout painfully from his hands, that much was true for Chris. Which led to this overjoyed reaction from his premiere screening of the finished film: 

Call it fate, destiny or just a series of events that led to where we are today, but Hugh Jackman feels like he was meant to be Wolverine. All that’s really left at this point is to honor the story that led to that fate, and to prepare ourselves for his return in Deadpool 3, which is scheduled to hit theaters in Summer 2024.

Which means it’s also time to relive all of Mr. Jackman’s past adventures in the X-Men saga, through the usage of a Disney+ subscription. After all of this storytelling, we’ve earned that right; especially when it comes to the joyful cameo he made in X-Men: First Class.

Over 20 years later, Ridley Scott’s Gladiator remains arguably Russell Crowe’s most iconic role. Ahead of Gladiator 2’s upcoming release, the actor highlighted an impressive homage to Maximus Decimus that is as random as it is delicious. Crowe’s likeness was just carved out of chocolate for a festival in Malta, and the Oscar-winning actor is ready to take a bite out of it. 

Russell Crowe took to his X account to showcase the especially impressive piece of chocolate. Check out a life-size Maximus made out of that delectable material: 

Crowe seemed to be dazzled by the unique tribute to his character from Gladiator. As he wrote, “some people get statues made of bronze, some in marble” but he has the great pleasure of being made out of chocolate. As the actor shared, Maximus rose from the dead in a much sweeter form for 2023’s Hamrun Chocolate Festival, which took place this past Saturday in Hamrun, Malta. 

It’s a rather popular festival that saw 25,000 people in attendance the year before, which is not a surprise considering it allows its guests to sample many types of chocolates. The 2023 event was the 13th edition of the event, and not the first time life-size sculptures made of chocolate. In the past, Elvis Presley and one of the Minions from the Despicable Me franchise were also created with the popular dessert ingredient. 

Tiziano Cassar was the mastermind behind the sculpture, but one major question remains: how was Maximus eaten? I hope they sent Crowe a chunk of the sculpture to enjoy because I can imagine it would melt over time. It would be rather funny if he got the head in particular. 

The original Gladiator was filmed in Fort Ricasoli, Malta, where a replica of a portion of Rome’s Colosseum was built to the height of 52 feet and reportedly cost the production $1 million. The 2001 Best Picture winner was additionally shot in England and Morocco. The second Gladiator movie, which Ridley Scott is directing as well over 20 years later, is also expected to return to Malta for filming, but has currently paused production due to the SAG-AFTRA actors strike. 

The Gladiator sequel has a stunning cast led by Paul Mescal as an adult Lucius Verus, a character who was the son of Maximus’ lover Lucilla in the original film. The cast also includes Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn, May Calamawy, along with Connie Nielsen, Derek Jacobi and Djimon Hounsou reprising their roles from the 2000 movie. Crowe is not expected to return due to Maximus’ death in the movie, but yes, he’s “slightly jealous” the sequel is going on without him. 

Gladiator 2’s release date is currently among upcoming 2024 movies, but we’ll have to see if its continued delay in production will lead to a release date push. While Crowe’s Maximus may remain a distant memory in the sequel, the actor can now boast having an actual chocolate statue made in honor of the character. Take that, Paul Mescal! 

When you look at the landscape of Hollywood A-List actors, it’s hard to believe how many haven’t been nominated for an Oscar. Even crazier is looking back on previous nominees like Meryl Streep and Gary Oldman’s careers and seeing where their first brush with golden glory came from. That’s what we’re gathered together to do today, as we look back on a who’s who of acting talent, and those first projects that put them on The Academy’s map! 

Meryl Streep - The Deer Hunter

Where does one begin when talking about Meryl Streep’s own personal golden dynasty? Well, if you want to start at the beginning, you’d take it all the way back to 1978. That’s when Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter put Ms. Streep on the Academy’s radar for the first time. At the time of publication, Streep is the most nominated person at the Academy Awards, thanks to a whopping 21 nods.

Daniel Day-Lewis - My Left Foot

The year 1990 marked an important moment for iconic actor, and three-time Academy Award winner, Daniel Day-Lewis. The now-retired thespian found himself winning on his first time out, with his nomination for the role of Irish writer and painter Christy Brown in My Left Foot. His portrayal of Brown, who created art while living with Cerebral Palsy, was only the beginning of a legacy involving method acting, which led to several more nominations and wins in the process.

Amy Adams - Junebug

Let’s put aside the fact that Amy Adams and Arrival were failed by awards boards in the 2016- 2017 season. Outside of that grudge that some still hold dear, Adams has a total of six Oscar nominations to her credit. That’s pretty amazing, with the first nod coming from her performance in 2005’s Junebug. With that noted, we can go back to grousing about how she deserves to be at seven nods, thanks to Denis Villeneuve’s brain-breaking masterpiece.

Leonardo DiCaprio - What’s Eating Gilbert Grape

While Leonardo DiCaprio could finally call himself a winner as part of 2016’s Academy Award nominees, the path to that victory for The Revenant kicked off in 1994. A hot young talent, DiCaprio’s first nomination was for his role alongside Johnny Depp in the drama What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? Turns out, when it was winning time for Leo, the answer to that question was, “A bear.”

Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side

One of America’s sweethearts, Sandra Bullock can be counted as a member of the First Timer's Club. Her first nomination was also the one that won her the trophy, as the 2010 Academy Awards yielded a golden win for her role in The Blind Side. Despite the recent controversies and lawsuit from Michael Oher that have hit that film’s story about the football player and the Tuohys, this is a hard-earned win, and the first of two nominations so far for Ms. Bullock. 

Tom Hanks - Big

We all know that Tom Hanks is Academy Award-winning royalty, as America’s Dad has six nominations and two wins under his belt. Looking back at the fact that his first competition for Oscar glory came from 1988’s Big, it’s an impressive feat for happening so early in Hanks’ career as an actor. It’s even more stunning when you take into account that it was for a comedy performance, which isn’t as prevalent at the Oscars as one would hope.

Viola Davis - Doubt

Despite the title of the film she was first nominated for, there was absolutely no Doubt when it came to Viola Davis’ status as an Oscar contender. Her first round came in 2008, through that very film mentioned; and she would eventually be nominated three more times, at the time of this publication. Her first win came in 2016 after she starred with fellow Oscar titan Denzel Washington in the film adaptation of Fences. (It's also worth mentioning that this actress is also in the elite club of EGOT winners.)

Peter O’Toole - Lawrence Of Arabia

Tied with Glenn Close for the most Oscar nominations without a win, the late great Peter O’Toole banked his first Academy Awards nod with the movie you’d most expect. Thanks to the director David Lean’s 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia, O’Toole began a dance with Academy voters that only saw him net a 2002 Honorary Academy Award. 

Jodie Foster - Taxi Driver

In the world of Disney actors turned Academy Award contenders, Jodie Foster will always be one of the most notable in that field. At the age of 15, Foster saw her first nomination through her only Best Supporting Actress nod to date. The eventual victor for films like The Accused and The Silence of the Lambs, Jodie first competed for Oscar glory through the role of child prostitute Iris Steensma in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. 

Morgan Freeman - Street Smart

Even movies with Oscar buzz can become buried in the sands of time. Just ask Morgan Freeman, who first saw himself nominated at the Academy Awards in 1987 for Street Smart. A crime drama starring Christopher Reeve as an ambitious reporter profiling Freeman’s pimp character Leo “Fast Black” Smalls Jr., it’s a movie that most wouldn’t remember; especially when compared to the other films the prestigious actor would be nominated for.

Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth

Playing royalty almost feels like a shortcut to winning big-time gold. However, Cate Blanchett is one of those exceptions that sets the rules. While she would later win trophies for The Aviator and Blue Jasmine, Blanchett’s first bid for an Academy Award came in 1999, thanks to the titular role in director Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth. 

Anthony Hopkins - The Silence Of The Lambs

Horror is one of those genres that doesn’t seem to get much love on the awards circuit. However, when the results are something as chilling as director Jonathan Demme’s adaptation of The Silence of the Lambs, containing Anthony Hopkins’ equally unsettling performance as Dr. Hannibal Lecter, it’s hard not to take notice. Score another First Timer’s Club victory, as Hopkins took home the gold his first time up.

Charlize Theron - Monster

Portraying the criminal mind provides such an allure for actors and auteurs alike. A case proving that point was Charlize Theron’s portrayal of convicted killer Aileen Wuornos in Patty Jenkins’ film Monster, her first nomination out of three at the time of this writing. Theron won the Best Actress trophy on the first try in 2004, all thanks to this tale of true crime. 

Christian Bale - The Fighter

Able to disappear completely in any character he plays, Academy Award winner Christian Bale has four nominations to his name. Equally split between Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor accolades, his first roll of the dice in 2011 landed him a win in the former category; thanks to David O. Russell’s The Fighter. 

Kate Winslet - Sense And Sensibility

The works of Jane Austen are another one of those sources that seem to periodically score nominations at the Oscars. Kate Winslet’s first is part of the proof, as the first of her current total of seven Academy Award nominations (and one win) came from 1995’s Sense and Sensibility. Ms. Winslet’s heart would go on to win Best Actress…in 2009, for Stephen Daldry’s The Reader.

Denzel Washington - Cry Freedom

Let’s see if King Kong knows this piece of movie trivia. Actor Denzel Washington has had 10 Oscar nominations, with two wins coming from that pool. While most would be tempted to cite his win for Glory as the first time he was nominated, that is incorrect. Washington’s first Academy Awards ceremony happened two years earlier in 1988, for his part in the film Cry Freedom. 

Kathy Bates - Misery

Frightening characters can make for the most golden of dreams, as was proven with 1991’s Academy Awards. Kathy Bates took home her first award on her first nomination, through the role of Anne Wilkes in Rob Reiner’s Misery. A “brilliant” adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, this fan favorite is one of many that’s seen the famed horror author’s work turning in some of the most well-regarded films and performances of all time.

George Clooney - Good Night, And Good Luck/Syriana

Here’s a wild story: George Clooney’s first Oscar nominations came from not one, but two films he was involved with. 2006’s Academy Awards saw the ER veteran land and win Best Supporting Actor for his role in Syriana, while one of CinemaBlend’s 100 best movies of the 2000s, Good Night, And Good Luck., netted him a Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay nod in that same contest.

Helen Mirren - The Madness Of King George

Did you know that half of Helen Mirren’s four Oscar nominations came from playing royalty? Surely most know of Mirren’s win in 2007 as Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen. But, dear readers, another queen marked the start of Dame Helen’s Academy Awards history. Her Best Supporting Actress nod in 1995 for The Madness of King George would be her initial foray into this circuit, playing Queen Charlotte to Nigel Hawthorne’s titular monarch.

Judi Dench - Mrs. Brown

Dame Judi Dench is another regal figure that practically screams “Oscar” when you see her. Another member of the club of actors winning as royalty, Dench would win in 1999 for her as Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love. That was only on her second try, because in 1998 Dame Judi received her first nomination, playing Queen Victoria in the film Mrs. Brown.

Dustin Hoffman - The Graduate

And here’s to you, Mr. Hoffman; Oscar came a’calling very young. At 30 years old, Dustin Hoffman saw his first Academy Award nomination through starring in 1967’s The Graduate. What may be more surprising than the actual 6-year age gap between himself and co-star Anne Bancroft is that his first Oscar win would take place 12 years later, with 1980’s Kramer vs. Kramer.

Susan Sarandon - Atlantic City

Five nominations and one win are actor Susan Sarandon’s Academy Award legacy, at the time of this writing. But her first nomination was from an Oscar-buzzed title that most folks may not remember: 1981’s Atlantic City. With nominations in “The Big Five” categories, Sarandon and the film at large walked away empty-handed that year.

Russell Crowe - The Insider

Before his name was Maximus Decimus Meridius, Russell Crowe found himself heading to the Oscars under a different moniker: Jeffrey Wigand. Nominated for the first time in 2000, Crowe’s role in Michael Mann’s whistleblower drama The Insider gave the Australian actor his first golden thrill ride. One that he’d repeat in 2001, and win for through the strength and honor of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator.

Angela Bassett - What’s Love Got To Do With It

Surprisingly, Angela Bassett only received her second nomination as part of 2023's Academy Awards, thanks to Marvel Studio’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Bassett’s first nomination came from playing royalty of a different type, as her lead role in the Tina Turner biopic What’s Love Got To Do With It saw her walking the Oscar red carpet in 1994.

Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Count this as another shocker in Oscar nominations history: Gary Oldman only received his first Academy Awards nomination in 2012. You’d think the Bram Stoker’s Dracula actor would have had more than the three nods and one win he currently holds. However, his dreams of golden splendor only started after he played George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. 

Julia Roberts - Steel Magnolias

With three nominations and one win, Julia Roberts’ odds of firing you up or making you cry with her Academy Award-nominated projects are officially even. Her first time in the race came in 1990, in the dramedy classic Steel Magnolias. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, we’ll leave it to you to find out which bucket this particular nom falls into on your own time.

Al Pacino - The Godfather

Some roles are such an indelible part of an actor’s career, they just had to land an Oscar nomination for it. Al Pacino is certainly one of those cases, as he would turn his first Best Supporting Actor nomination for The Godfather into a Best Actor nod in The Godfather Part II. Both stem from his portrayal of Michael Corleone, the favorite son who descended into darkness and power.

Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married

“It came true.” Those three words marked the end of Anne Hathaway’s journey to Oscar gold, with her second nomination and first win for Best Supporting Actress in Les Miserables. But the beginning of Ms. Hathaway’s Academy Awards journey was in 2009, when she was nominated for Best Actress in Rachel Getting Married. 

Matt Damon - Good Will Hunting

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck both won their first Oscars for Best Original Screenplay, thanks to 1998’s Good Will Hunting. But much like other members of the First Timers Club in this list, Damon’s first victory was also his first time at the dance. How ‘bout dem apples indeed.

Jennifer Lawrence - Winter’s Bone

The second time was the charm for Jennifer Lawrence, as her role in Silver Linings Playbook made her a winner in 2013. That wasn’t too long after her initial foray into Oscar victory, which came in 2011 thanks to her lead role in the neo-noir gem Winter’s Bone. Who’d expect any less from the eventual "girl on fire" that would lead The Hunger Games to box office domination?

Ben Affleck - Good Will Hunting

Sailing on the same current as his writing partner and longtime buddy Matt Damon, Ben Affleck’s first Oscar nomination came from his co-authoring of Good Will Hunting. And to think, if Damon and Affleck’s hijinks involving the script hadn’t worked, we may never have seen either contributor go on to the storied careers they enjoy today.

Samuel L. Jackson - Pulp Fiction

Fans of Samuel L. Jackson are about to engage in some harsh language, as the current MCU star only has one Academy Award nomination. While it’s rightful for his Best Supporting Actor-worthy role in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, the man’s gone on to deliver several other powerhouse performances worth at least a nod or two. This is something that not even the tastiest beverage could wash away.

As an actor, you never know where that first win or nomination is going to come from. And when you're an A-lister as iconic as the people we've just discussed, those initial impressions are all the more interesting to look at as time goes on. Who knows where these blockbuster draws will find their next brush with golden glory, and how it will compare to these humble beginnings? 

The Les Misérables cast is full of talent – and they've done a lot since the film was released more than ten years ago. 

I have been obsessed with movie musicals for as long as I can remember. I love to rewatch Mamma Mia!, check out the hit movie Chicago, and even dance around my room while rewatching Hairspray. No matter the movie musical, I love to rewatch it. Les Misérables was a movie musical that I loved for some time as a child. I recently decided to rewatch it, and my opinion of the film has changed significantly because my knowledge of the original musical has grown. But you want to know what has stayed the same? The love I have for the Les Misérables cast. 

I'm not sure what Tom Hooper did to get an ensemble cast of this talent, but the Les Misérables cast is one of the most star-studded ensemble movie musicals I have seen in a long time. From Hugh Jackman to Russell Crowe to Anne Hathaway, there are plenty of cast members here that we have seen in massive movies, major TV shows and incredible stage productions. 

If you're wondering where the Les Misérables cast is more than a decade after the film premiered, here is what they've been up to. 

Hugh Jackman (Jean Valjean)

First up on this list is the star of Les Misérables, Hugh Jackman. He portrayed Jean Valjean, and while I don't personally agree with making him the lead character, his acting was great in the film. He ended up scoring an Academy Award nomination for it. Jackman has always participated in theatre and musicals, so his being in Les Misérables makes sense. 

Jackman continued to further his musical talents after his role in the movie. Not only did he host the 2014 Tony Awards, where he put on an impressive opening performance featuring several big Broadway stars, but he also starred in the smash hit musical The Greatest Showman (which truthfully needs a sequel). He was also the star of the Broadway revival of The Music Man in 2022. 

Aside from that, Jackman has appeared in many movies since his role in Les Misérables. He closed out his time as Wolverine in the X-Men movie franchise, but he will reprise the role one last time in the upcoming Deadpool 3, which paused filming due to the 2023 Writer's Strike. 

Jackman also appeared in films such as The Front Runner, Bad Education, Prisoners, The Son and was the star of the Reminiscence cast in 2021. He also had a recurring voice role on the hit Netflix show Human Resources and a recurring role on Hulu's Koala Man. He'll be in a new film called Apostle Paul and a new miniseries called Faraway Downs next.

Russell Crowe (Javert)

Russell Crowe portrayed Javert in Les Misérables, and I will openly admit that I did not care that much for his casting, as most people didn't. Crowe isn't necessarily known for his singing ability. However, the actor is incredibly talented, and he's been in plenty of movies since then. 

His most prominent movies include The Nice Guys, The Mummy, Unhinged, Noah (where he starred as the titular character), Poker Face, and The Greatest Beer Run Ever. He also portrayed Zeus in Thor: Love and Thunder, and he was a part of the 2023 horror film The Pope's Exorcist. Crowe has also had a voice role on Ark: The Animated Series. 

Crowe has plenty coming up in the next few years regarding new projects. He will be a part of the Kraven the Hunter cast, and he is set to appear in movies such as The Georgetown Project, A Taste for Blood, Sleeping Dogs, Rothko, and more. 

Anne Hathaway (Fantine)

The Les Misérables cast is incredible, but no one surpassed Anne Hathaway, who played Fantine in the film. The actress won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role, and she has gone on to star in some pretty incredible projects since then. We've even ranked her best films.

My personal favorite performance of hers was when she had a co-starring role in Interstellar, one of Christopher Nolan's best films I watched in 2023. Aside from that, Hathaway has appeared in movies like The Intern, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Ocean's 8, Locked Down, The Witches, She Came to Me, Eileen, and more. 

The actress also held a role on the Amazon Prime TV show Modern Love for two episodes. Hathaway will star in Mother's Instinct and several other movies like The Idea Of You, Mother Mary, The Lifeboat, and Bum's Rush in the coming years.

Amanda Seyfried (Cosette)

I've always loved Amanda Seyfried in any musical role, and her as Cosette was the perfect pick. Les Misérables showed the full capability of her musical talent. And ever since then, Amanda Seyfried has starred in some great films. 

She was in the sequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, and she also starred in other movies such as The Big Wedding, Epic, A Million Ways to Die in the West, Gringo, Ted 2, Pan, The Art of Racing in the Rain, Scoob!, Things Heard and Seen, and A Mouthful of Air. 

Seyfried has also expanded her talent into television. She had a leading performance in The Dropout cast on Hulu, one that earned her a Primetime Emmy nomination. She also had a lead role in Apple TV+'s The Crowded Room, and she was on four episodes of Twin Peaks. 

Seyfried will appear in a new movie called My Ex-Friend's Wedding next, so be sure to check that out. 

Eddie Redmayne (Marius Pontmercy)

Marius Pontmercy was the love interest of Cosette and one of the fighters of the rebellion in Les Misérables, and Eddie Redmayne portrayed him. This was the first time I had ever seen Redmayne, so his performance in this movie holds a special place in my heart. 

A year later, Redmayne won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Theory of Everything, where he played Stephen Hawking. Aside from that, Redmayne has also gained a lot of notoriety for his role as Newt Scamander in the Fantastic Beasts franchise in the world of Harry Potter. 

Aside from this, Redmayne has appeared in several other movies, including The Danish Girl, The Trial of the Chicago 7, The Aeronauts, The Good Nurse, and Early Man. Up next, he will be starring in a new TV series called The Day of the Jackal. 

Helena Bonham Carter (Madame Thénardier)

Helena Bonham Carter is arguably one of my favorite actresses, and her role as Madame Thénardier in Les Misérables is iconic in the best way possible. Ever since then, the actress has appeared in a variety of movies. 

My choice for her best film post-Les Mis is the live-action Cinderella, where she played the Fairy Godmother. She also appeared in the Enola Holmes movies on Netflix, One Love, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Ocean's 8, Suffragette, and The Lone Ranger. 

Carter also starred as Princess Margaret for two seasons on the hit Netflix series The Crown, and she had roles in Love, Nina, and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (the latter of which was canceled). She appeared in a British miniseries as well, titled Nolly. She will be in two new films, The Offing and Four Letters of Love, and she will also appear in a TV series about David Copperfield. 

Sacha Baron Cohen (Monsieur Thénardier)

I cannot think of a better actor to play Monsieur Thénardier in Les Misérables, especially opposite Helena Bonham Carter, than Sacha Baron Cohen. Cohen has appeared in movies since Les Misérables, including Alice Through the Looking Glass and The Trial of the Chicago 7, and he held a voice role in the emotional Pixar film Luca. 

Cohen especially made waves when he released Borat Subsequent Moviefilm in 2020, a sequel to his hit movie Borat. The film received excellent reviews, and it earned a few Academy Award nominations. 

He also created, wrote, and starred in Who Is America? and was in six episodes of The Spy series. Cohen will be in a new miniseries called Disclaimer and two new movies called Mandrake the Magician and Super Toys.

Samantha Barks (Éponine)

Samantha Barks played Éponine in Les Misérables, a known stage veteran who portrayed the same character in the stage production years before the movie. Since then, the actress has appeared in films, including The Christmas Candle, Bitter Harvest, Interlude for Prague, and Tomorrow Morning. She also had a guest role on the TV show Bear Grylls: Mission Survive. 

Barks has mainly stuck to theatre since her role in the movie, appearing in various stage plays and musicals, including Chicago, Chess, Frozen, The Last Five Years, Amelie, City of Angels, Honeymoon in Vegas, and Pretty Woman: The Musical. 

Aaron Tveit (Enjolras)

Enjolras wasn't as big of a star as Marius, but he certainly made an impact in Les Misérables, and Aaron Tveit is the reason for that. The actor has appeared in a few films, including Big Sky, Better Of Single, Out of Blue, and Created Equal, but has mainly stuck to television. 

He was a part of Graceland and BrainDead, he also was part of the stacked Schimigadoon! main cast. He had several recurring and guest roles on shows such as The Good Fight, The Code, and American Horror Stories too. Tveit has also stuck to theatre, appearing in productions like Company, Assassins, and most recently, Moulin Rouge!, for which he won a Tony Award for. 

Daniel Huttlestone (Gavroche)

Lastly, we have Daniel Huttlestone, who played Gavroche in Les Misérables. While the character is essential, Huttlestone hasn't done much acting since then. He appeared in Into the Woods in a prominent part, and then he appeared in the films Friday Download, London Town, and The Lost City of Z, but has since stopped acting. 

There are so many talented stars on this list that I need to catch up on, and now I feel I need to do some movie marathons to celebrate all their incredible films. Does anyone else feel up to the challenge of watching Mamma Mia! over and over again with me? 

I must admit, as a huge fan of 1997’s L.A. Confidential, I never really pegged the flick as a sequel-friendly enterprise. Adapted from author James Ellroy’s book of the same name, Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce stood front and center of a hard boiled noir classic that deconstructed post-war L.A. in a style few could hope to achieve. However, knowing that Crowe and Pearce could have starred in a potential L.A. Confidential 2 with the late great Chadwick Boseman not only has me convinced this idea could have worked, but I’m now bummed this never happened.

While attending this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, screenwriter/director Brian Helgeland was on hand to promote his latest film, Finestkind. In that discussion, the Academy Award winner laid out the story of the potential sequel to his work with the late Curtis Hanson; which you can watch in the clip presented below: 

I don’t know what to be more mad about: the fact that Warner Bros, the studio that made L.A. Confidential, said “we don’t movies make like this,” or the anecdote that revealed the Netflix exec that fell asleep during this pitch. Both scenarios suck, as this iconic detective story was apparently labeled not worth pursuing. Not even with the dream team of Chadwick Boseman, Russell Crowe, and Guy Pearce attached as participants. 

Then again, the history of L A. Confidential as an IP seems to further highlight how that first movie truly was lightning in a bottle. Only a few short years after its release a TV series was pitched that would have seen Kiefer Sutherland playing one of the leads; but that project was passed on as well. That concept was revisited as recently as 2018, when CBS apparently developed their own pitch that similarly went to the big nowhere.

The more I think about it, the more I’m both bummed out and annoyed that everyone passed on a 1970’s set L.A. Confidential 2, with Chadwick Boseman at the height of his acting powers. Reuniting Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce for the occasion just makes the scenario all the more tempting. While it’s bittersweet that Boseman’s untimely passing robbed us of seeing him in this exciting role, with the right casting this might still be an idea worth pursuing. 

Even if Brian Helgeland and James Ellroy’s pitch was to get off the ground, a part of me would still be upset that this now lost pitch never got to happen in its previous form. However, I'd still love to see the pitch Helgeland and James Ellroy cooked up, as that story about Ellroy's animated presentation process is too good to leave in the darkness of "what ifs."

On the brighter side of things, Helgeland’s new movie Finestkind has already impressed our own Corey Chichizola in its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival. There’s no word on when exactly this new project will hit the 2023 movie release schedule, just that it will be debuting sometime in November for those with access to a Paramount+ subscription.

After years of anticipation, Gladiator 2 is finally happening, and many seem excited over the prospect of another Ridley Scott-directed historical drama set to the backdrop of ancient Rome. Viewers won’t see Russell Crowe’s Maximus leading the narrative, though, for reasons obvious to those who’ve seen the hit 2000 film. Taking over as the lead will be Lucius, who’s played by rising star Paul Mescal. The actor certainly has some big shoes to fill as leading man, and one may wonder if he’s reached out to Crowe for guidance. Well, Mescal hasn’t felt compelled to do that, and he explained just why.

It goes without saying that Russell Crowe received worldwide acclaim for his performance in the original film. The physicality and complexities he brought to Maximus were impeccable and, for his efforts, Crowe received the Oscar for Best Actor. All in all, his role in the Best Picture winner essentially solidified him as a Hollywood heavyweight. With all of that in mind, one would think Paul Mescal would be somewhat intimidated by the thought of meeting with him. Based on the comments he shared with Esquire, nervousness doesn’t seem to be what’s driving his hesitation, however. It seems it more so has to do with the nature of Mescal’s role: 

That line of thinking is understandable, as it wouldn’t make sense for him to reach out if there aren’t many commonalities between the two characters. At the very least though, I’d still reach out to the A Beautiful Mind star just to hear some sweet-behind-the-scenes stories. It may be best that the Aftersun star doesn’t hit up Russell Crowe, because he’s received a lot of Gladiator 2 questions already. Crowe, in his humorous way, actually dropped an F-bomb over having to field so many queries even though he knows nothing about the movie. He’s also not entertained over the notion of not being a part of it, but he seems confident that Ridley Scott will tell another compelling tale.

Lucius – the son of Connie Nielsen’s Lucilla – was introduced as a child in the first movie. In it, he idolized the late Maximus, who died following his fateful fight with Commodus. Little is known about Lucius’ standing by the events of the sequel, though there are plenty of rumors flying. Because Paul Mescal has been working out and eating well amid production, some believe his character will gear up to fight in the coliseum at some point. As mentioned by Esquire, it’s even rumored that Lucius will be revealed as Maximus’ illegitimate son. Don’t expect Mescal to confirm anything though, as he tip-toed around that question while sharing a non-spoilery take on the sequel: 

Despite the intense level of secrecy surrounding the production, there are details we do know about Gladiator 2. Ridley Scott has assembled a stacked cast that includes Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal. The film, which picks up decades after its predecessor, will also include a few legacy characters. Specifically, Connie Nielsen’s Lucilla, Derek Jacobi’s Gracchus and Djimon Hounsou’s Juba. 

The historical epic is currently still slated for release on November 22 as part of the 2024 movie schedule. That wait could end up being even longer depending on how long the Hollywood strikes last. In the meantime, I’d be curious to see whether Paul Mescal and Russell Crowe do get in contact or ever cross paths. And when the blockbuster finally opens, I’d love to know if Crowe sees it and whether he’s left entertained.

In the meantime, you can stream Gladiator using a Prime Video subscription.

Russell Crowe is considered to be one of Hollywood's great actors, and he's also earned a reputation for not mincing words when it comes to a particular subject. Despite having greatly mellowed out at this point, it seems that even after all these years, one thing can still ignite his somewhat fiery personality: questions about Ridley Scott’s longtime in-development, Gladiator 2. According to the Oscar winner, he's constantly asked about the follow-up and, this time, he has an f-bomb-filled response to those dying to know about the sequel. 

At the Karlovy Vary Film Festival (via Variety), Russell Crowe once again faced inquiries about the long-rumored sequel to his 2000 epic historical drama. The typically candid actor didn't hesitate when expressing his frustration. In response to the journalists, the Nice Guys actor unleashed a colorful profanity-laden wisecrack, stating:

The A Beautiful Mind star's brutally honest and expletive reaction clearly reflects his annoyance at being repeatedly questioned about a project in which he has no involvement. However, he did admit to a certain nostalgic sentiment, acknowledging the original film's impact on his life.

Despite his initial frustration, Russell Crowe seemed to regain his composure and offered a more tempered response when pressed further on the subject. He clarified that he was out of the loop regarding any details surrounding the production, including the Gladiator 2 cast and plot:

Fans of the original flick have long been clamoring for a sequel, hoping to revisit the thrilling world of ancient Rome. While plot details are scarce, what we know about the follow-up to Ridley Scott's epic is that the iconic director will return to helm the project, which is slated for the tail end of the 2024 movie schedule. 

While Russell Crowe won't be making an appearance (unless he returns as a ghost, considering his character's fate in the first film), the sequel boasts an impressive ensemble of talented actors. It was revealed earlier this year that Paul Mescal, acclaimed for his role in Aftersun, would lead the cast as Lucius, the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) and nephew of Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). Additionally, Pedro Pascal, known for his roles in The Mandalorian and The Last of Us, joined the cast in an undisclosed role. Furthermore, Denzel Washington, a two-time Oscar winner, has reunited with Scott for the project.

The Pope’s Exorcist performer might not be returning to the coliseum, but he has been actively engaged in other projects. He is set to join Sony's universe of Spider-Man characters by way of the film Kraven the Hunter. Additionally, Crowe will appear in both The Georgetown Project and Nuremberg. So he's got plenty of other things on his plate and surely doesn't want to entertain any more queries about potentially being involved in the long-awaited sequel.

As Gladiator 2 continues to develop, moviegoers can relive Maximus' story in the world of ancient Rome, with the original movie now streaming for anyone with a Prime Video subscription. You can also check out our schedule of 2023 new movie releases to learn about the action-packed flicks that are heading to a theater near you.

In a few months, we’ll be a year removed from the highly publicized defamation case between ex-spouses Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. The trial concluded with Depp receiving a favorable verdict and, since then, he’s sought to move forward with his life. That includes his acting career, and he’s landed a post-trial movie. The feature, Jeanne du Barry, will be released this year and is getting a fancy premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this month. Depp will also be present at the event, where he’ll walk the red carpet alongside his collaborators. Now, the 59-year-old star has already lined up another big festival appearance. 

This summer will mark the 57th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, which is held in the Czech Republic. A number of big things are planned, including a celebration for Russell Crowe, as he’s set to receive the Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema. All the while, the event is also set to unveil the latest in the series of original trailers it produces annually, and Johnny Depp is set to be featured in it, per Deadline.

For context, these trailers are used to honor award recipients named throughout the festival’s history. The Pirates of the Caribbean star attended the event in 2021 and presented Minamata and Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan – films he produced. As the trade notes, his inclusion in the proceedings at that time was notable because he was still embroiled in the legal drama with his ex-wife. This year, he’ll be the 18th person to appear in the Ivan Zachariáš-helmed trailer. 

Johnny Depp has gradually been making attempts to slide back into his position within the Hollywood landscape as of late. It’s fair to say that between Karlovy Vary and Cannes, he has some major opportunities coming up. But even though Depp is moving further away from the tumultuous period in his life, some still seem to take issue with him being honored. 

After his upcoming historical drama was confirmed to be premiering at Cannes, pundits questioned the decision to highlight his work. The director of the event, Thierry Fremaux, later issued a statement and defended the choice. As he put it, he doesn’t believe showcasing the Maïwenn-directed is a “controversial choice at all.” He also argued that the Edward Scissorhands star won his court case and that the movie “isn’t about” him.

Jeanne du Barry, which was originally titled La Favorite, is set to the backdrop of France during the 1700s. The movie centers on the titular Jeanne – a working class woman who manages to get in the good graces of King Louis XV. Director/co-writer Maïwenn plays the lead role, while Johnny Depp portrays the late monarch. 

One can only guess as to how Johnny Depp will be received when he’s featured at both film festivals. Nevertheless, it seems that he’s proving to be relatively successful in revitalizing his career thus far. And considering that two major events have already tapped him, there’s a chance that others could follow suit. 

The 2023 Cannes Film Festival is set to be held from May 16-23, while the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival will run from June 30 through July 8.

It may surprise avid watchers of the 2023 new movie releases, but recent exorcism thriller The Pope’s Exorcist has proven to be quite popular. Banking some rather promising grosses, the Russell Crowe-starring movie is apparently so hot that it’s getting a sequel. What’s more, there’s a promising development that points towards Crowe’s character being back for this next bout with holy terror. 

The update comes from an exclusive through Bloody-Disgusting, as the horror news site discovered this information through an unnamed source. According to that publication, director Julius Avery’s mid-budget screamer has put in enough of a showing to impress its parent studio Sony to put The Pope’s Exorcist 2 into “early development.” Other than the expectation that Russell Crowe would be returning, no specifics on this new project have mentioned.

Looking at the quick and dirty figures of production budget versus grosses, which admittedly never tell the full story of hidden costs like marketing, it does look pretty rose for these rosaries. The Pope’s Exorcist was made on an estimated budget of $18 million, which looks absolutely lovely next to the estimated $52 million figure that’s come in through the worldwide market. 

Last weekend’s box office was good to horror in general, as Evil Dead Rise’s opening haul rang some similar bells in cinemas over the previous weekend. Those who stick to their guns in proclaiming this genre as a constant at the movie market are certainly rewarded in their faith. 

Russell Crowe fans can also celebrate this, as his star power is most definitely part of what made The Pope’s Exorcist the steady hit that it is. Though he’s not taking part in Gladiator 2 and Crowe’s uncertain status in the MCU is a bit of a holding pattern to navigate, the Academy Award winner can still carve out a niche similar to The Conjuring saga. As the real-life case files of Father Gabriele Amorth could be mined as effectively as the Warrens’ own paranormal history, our favorite Gladiator vet isn’t the only party who can leverage this picture’s success to their full advantage.

Circling back slightly to Evil Dead Rise, distributor Warner Bros./New Line must be very happy to be offering The Nun 2 as part of its 2023 portfolio. Between The Pope’s Exorcist and the return of the Deadites, the climate couldn’t be better for people of the cloth turning to Latin rites to save, or doom, the day. 

We’re going to have to wait and see what happens with The Pope’s Exorcist 2, but its hypothetical predecessor is still showing in a theater near you. If you really want to make it a double feature from Hell, then be sure to schedule a screening of Evil Dead Rise in the same day. Unfortunately, based on what we know about The Nun 2, you’re still going to have to wait until September 8th for that particular entry in the holy horror canon. Though you can always scour the upcoming horror movies schedule for frights of another kind, if you dare! 

It’s no secret that The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a behemoth franchise, with plenty of exciting properties taking the spotlight on the small and silver screens. Phase Four introduced a ton of characters, although some had issues with that slate of projects. Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love and Thunder was no exception in that regard. That blockbuster featured Russell Crowe as Zeus, with the mid-credits scene teasing what’s to come in the future. So is Crowe going to be back for another appearance in the MCU? Here’s his honest thoughts.

Russell Crowe has had a long and wildly successful career, notably performing in dramas like The Gladiator and Les Miserables. But he was able to flex his comedic muscles as Zeus in the fourth Thor movie, to the joy of moviegoers. The Oscar-winning actor recently appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, where he was asked if he’d be back in another Thor movie, possibly alongside Brett Goldstein’s Hercules. He responded honestly, saying:

There you have it. While Russell Crowe seems like he’d be down to return to the MCU as Zeus (complete with his wild costume), he hasn’t heard any news about when this might be happening. But he’s citing the Love and Thunder mid-credits scene as a clear opportunity to bring him back. Fingers crossed we find out sooner rather than later.

Crowe’s comments about his possible Thor future come as he’s promoting his new horror movie The Pope’s Exorcist. The conversation eventually turned to his time in the MCU, which is an experience that countless Marvel stars are no doubt quite familiar with. And smart money says that these types of queries are going to continue until we’ve got official news about whether or not the Boy Erased actor will be back in the shared universe.

Later in that same interview, Russell Crowe shared what it was like filming Thor: Love and Thunder as his campy version of Zeus. Obviously he loved his time working with Taika Waititi, but his praise also extended to franchise star Chris Hemsworth. In his words:

Some serious points were made. While moviegoers get to see the finished product of Marvel blockbusters, actually filming it is an entirely different process. Because projects like the Thor movies require the cast to really lean on their sense of imagination, especially when acting opposite tennis balls or on a full green screen set. Luckily Crowe was able to do just that, and seemed particularly impressed with what Hemsworth was able to pull off.

Thor: Love and Thunder marked the first time that a Marvel hero was given a fourth solo movie. And the movie’s ending seemingly set up future installments, especially with Hemsworth’s title character adopting a daughter. Add in Zeus and Hercules’ mid-credits scene, and it seems like the God of Thunder has plenty to grapple with future projects.

The entire Thor franchise is currently streaming on Disney+. The next installment in the MCU is Guardians 3 on May 5th. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. 

Gladiator is arguably one of the best films of the past 25 years, so it goes without saying the sequel has a lot to live up to. That's especially true when it must do so without one of the key actors that helped make the original so memorable, as Russell Crowe led the charge as Maximus. It turns out that even though Crowe is still enjoying the reception of that movie with fresh roles in Hollywood, he's "not entertained" to be left out of Gladiator 2, which has been in development for a while.

Russell Crowe recently did interviews for his latest movie, The Pope's Exorcist, and of course he was asked about the filming of the Gladiator sequel. When asked by Collider about the things he hoped to see in the movie, the actor confessed the only thing he could really feel in regards to the upcoming Ridley Scott movie is jealousy: 

Gladiator does have legs, and it's fair to say it played a part in Russell Crowe's continued success in Hollywood. While Crowe was on a solid run in Hollywood when Gladiator came his way, the movie netted him his first and only Academy Award for Best Actor, and it also ended up winning the Best Picture category.

If the fact that a sequel is being made wasn't evidence enough, Russell Crowe confirmed that Gladiator is still a well-liked movie. Decades after its release, Crowe made a bold claim that isn't too hard to believe after taking a glance at my local listings:  

Sure enough, anyone with Showtime or the streaming add-on via a Hulu or Paramount+ subscription can watch Gladiator in the coming days if they're in the United States. Gladiator is a well-liked film, and perhaps the sequel could pave the way for a new Hollywood franchise.

Of course, the million-dollar question remains what exactly is happening in Gladiator 2. We know that Paul Mescal will play an adult version of the first movie's character Lucius. Beyond that, we probably know more about the absolutely batshit-sounding sequel that was proposed long ago than we know about this upcoming movie, but the hype for the film remains high, especially with rumors of big names like Denzel Washington being involved. 

And if Russell Crowe can't be a part of the movie, perhaps it's the next best thing for him not to openly trash it for excluding him. It's only natural he'd want to be a part of a movie that meant so much to his career, but maybe, for the sake of the original, it's best that Maximus stays dead and isn't brought back via flashbacks, de-aging or any other means of Hollywood magic. It's probably best to let this new movie stand with what it has on its own, and hopefully it'll have just as long-lasting of a legacy as the original. 

Gladiator 2 is still in the works, but we don't have any idea when it's arriving or when a release date will even be announced. As for The Pope's Exorcist, it's in theaters on Friday, April 14th, and is just one of many scary movies coming out in 2023. 

Looking back on Hugh Jackman’s successful career, the movie that really shot him into stardom was X-Men when he appeared as Wolverine for the first time. In the two decades that followed, the actor has reprised his role as Logan nine times, and he will appear as the character for the tenth time by teaming up with Ryan Reynolds for Deadpool 3. It’s a well-known fact that before Jackman got the Marvel role Russell Crowe was considered for it, however, the Gladiator star didn’t feel right for it. So, he recommended his fellow Australian actor. Now, the man we’ve come to know as Wolverine is sharing a sweet message about the actor who helped him land one of his most iconic roles. 

Russell Crowe has openly talked about turning down the role of Wolverine, and recommending Hugh Jackman for the part. He spoke about it recently on the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast, talking about how he felt like his fellow Aussie looked a lot like the Marvel character. Crowe said: 

The Logan star, who was actually cast as Wolverine at the last minute, saw the video, and posted a sweet message to Crowe, writing:

Knowing that Crowe turned down such a massive role because he thought he wasn’t the perfect fit, and then recommended an up-and-coming actor instead says a lot about him, and it’s extremely generous. I also think Jackman’s message to his friend is also incredibly sweet and telling about how grateful he is for the role that kind of made his career. 

On top of recommending Jackman for the role, Crowe has also been very complimentary about his fellow actor’s performance. He said he never could have done Wolverine as well as Jackman did, saying he “wouldn’t have carried it through with the grace and the direction that Hugh gave it.” 

Turns out, X-Men was not the only time Crowe recommended Jackman for a role. He also told Josh Horowitz that when Baz Luhrmann offered him Australia, he recommended his Les Misérables co-star for the role instead, saying: 

Crowe went on to say that he’s never had an issue turning down roles that he didn’t feel right for. Not only has it helped make careers for actors like Hugh Jackman, it’s also a big reason the actor said he still loves his job. 

Since Crowe turned down Wolverine, and Jackman went on to play him, both actors have had legendary careers, and are still hard at work. Jackman will return once again as the iconic Marvel character in Deadpool 3. While Crowe joined the MCU last year by joining the Thor: Love and Thunder cast as Zeus. While it seems unlikely, it would be incredibly fun to see the longtime pals work together on one of Marvel’s upcoming projects considering the X-Men are officially part of the MCU.

However, that will probably never happen, so let's focus on what is a guarantee. When it comes to Crowe, he has four movies on the 2023 movie schedule, including Kraven the Hunter. And in terms of Hugh Jackman, we can look forward to Wolverine’s official debut in the MCU in 2024, and we have Russell Crowe to partially thank for that. 

My Best Friend's Wedding was a charming romantic comedy hit when it was released in 1997. It's okay if you don't remember the almost three-decades-old film because, if you ask Russell Crowe, the film's director barely does. Or at least, according to the actor, he has a skewed memory of the pre-production process. In a recent interview, director P.J. Hogan asserted that he initially wanted Crowe in the part of the best friend and romantic lead, playing opposite Julia Roberts. Hogan, however, claimed that Crowe gave a poor audition and, now, the actor has clapped back at the claim.

At the time the movie was in production, Russell Crowe was mainly unknown to a US audience, but Julia Roberts was still hot off the success of being in one the best romantic comedies of all time. According to the P.J. Hogan, the problem with casting Crowe was that the actor gave a disastrous table read where he allegedly clenched his script and barely made eye contact with the star of Pretty Woman. And as a result, the best friend role ultimately went to Dermot Mulroney. 

While the filmmaker said it was one of the worst readings he had ever been through, the Gladiator actor claims the table read never even occurred. He took to Twitter to challenge the director's memory, saying that the story is a complete fabrication on his part. The Oscar winner wrote:

The star claims that not only did the table read not happen, but he never auditioned for the part. Admittedly, this seems to be a bit of he said, he said situation, leaving one to wonder what exactly did or didn't occur.

It's hard to imagine why P.J. Hogan would fabricate such a story about a twenty-five-year-old film, whereas one could theoretically argue that Russell Crowe's pride could be on the line if he acknowledges the story. This actually isn't the first time he's been involved in a back-and-forth about his involvement in a production. In a past interview, Crowe claimed the original Gladiator script was terrible and implied that he helped shape it into the success it became. But one of the film's producers suggested that Crowe's contributions had been greatly exaggerated. 

What's most interesting about the actor's response in this more recent situation is how he addresses Julia Roberts as "the actress mentioned" instead of by name. It's hard to say why he would not explicitly mention her, but there's a chance that may have been his way of simply keeping her from getting brought into the discussion even further.

At the time of the release of My Best Friend's Wedding, Julia Roberts was a megastar. P.J. Hogan said in the same interview that because the actress had such A-List power, she had a lot of say over the film's production. It'd honestly be interesting to hear from Roberts as to whether or not the allegedly disastrous table read ever did take place.

It's likely that we'll never really know who's telling the truth here unless Julia Roberts or someone else in the know corroborates either Russell Crowe or P.J. Hogan's stories. Until then, we simply have another interesting anecdote connected to one of the most beloved movies of the '90s.

My Best Friend's Wedding can be streamed with a Peacock subscription. If you need guidance on all of your movie news and film-going plans in the coming months, you can look at our 2022 movie release schedule.

“The Greatest Beer Run Ever” starring Zac Efron and Russell Crowe, and directed by Peter Farrelly is definitely not the greatest movie ever, according to CinemaBlend’s Managing Editor Sean O’Connell. Watch his review of the new film that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and is coming to Apple TV+ September 30th.

Video Chapters:

00:00 - Intro
01:07 - Zac Efron’s Performance
03:05 - The Terrible Script
05:20 - Russell Crowe’s Role
06:38 - Star Rating and Final Thoughts
7:33 - Outro

Russell Crowe has more than earned his reputation as one of the film industry’s greatest dramatic talents – reflected in the attention he has gotten from the Academy Awards (including a Best Actor prize for 2001’s Gladiator), and in the rave reviews he has received for films like L.A. Confidential, The Insider and A Beautiful Mind (the latter two also earning him Oscar nominations). When it comes to doing comedy, however, he is also very much a guy who understands the assignment, so to speak, and that was very much the case in the making of Thor: Love And Thunder.

The Australian star plays the Olympian god Zeus in the new Marvel blockbuster, and co-star Chris Hemsworth and writer/director Taika Waititi had nothing but nice things to say about him while discussing his performance last month during an interview at the Thor: Love And Thunder press day in Los Angeles. I asked the men about their experience working with Russell Crowe and specifically about his costume – which consists of a shiny breast plate and what could be called a frilled mini skirt. According to Waititi, Crowe’s reaction to seeing the get-up was instant recognition of tone and enthusiasm to “play along.” Said the filmmaker,

Without giving away too much about the plot of Thor: Love And Thunder, Chris Hemsworth’s titular God of Thunder travels with Mighty Thor (Natalie Portman), Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), and Korg (Taika Waititi) in the movie to see Zeus when they learn that Gorr The God Butcher (Christian Bale) is traveling around the universe killing every god he comes across. The extended sequence with Zeus is a highlight of the film, and as I write in my CinemaBlend review of the blockbuster, Russell Crowe is a brilliant scene stealer (and he’s apparently a natural with a thunderbolt).

A perfect demonstration of Crowe leaning into the goofiness of Zeus is seen in the film with the character daintily lifting his skirt as he walks – and that was evidently an improvised idea that the actor brought to the table. Chris Hemsworth was clearly impressed by his co-stars comedic sensibilities, and he notes that he thinks that audiences are going to be surprised by what he does. Said Hemsworth,

Thor: Love And Thunder – which features the Guardians of the Galaxy roster in addition to all of the stars mentioned earlier, is now playing in theaters across the country. If you haven’t seen the film yet and need to do some prep work before you do, check out our Marvel Movies In Order feature, and if you go see the blockbuster and want to learn about everything coming in the future, you’re going to want to read our Upcoming Marvel Movies and Upcoming Marvel TV guides.

When the latest full trailer for Thor: Love And Thunder dropped in late May, it generated a lot of questions about the upcoming Marvel movie, but it also featured some cool revelations – including the fact that Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie (whose real name we don’t know just yet) is fighting with a new weapon in the blockbuster: Zeus’ thunderbolt. Behind the scenes, wielding this new godly tool required Thompson to do some special training, and she pulls off some killer moves with it on screen (as audiences will witness themselves very soon). By the actor’s own admission, however,  her skills with the bolt are nothing compared to those possessed by the MCU’s Zeus himself, Russell Crowe.

How does she know this? Not only did Tessa Thompson get to see what her co-star could do with the thunderbolt while cameras were rolling during production, but she also evidently watched him surreptitiously while he practiced with the prop outside of her on-set trailer.

As captured in the video at the top of this article, I had the pleasure of interviewing King Valkyrie herself during the Thor: Love And Thunder press day in Los Angeles this past weekend, and during our conversation I took time to ask her about the thunderbolt. She admitted that it’s not the easiest weapon to wield, and gave credit to Russell Crowe for what he was able to do with it:

I don’t know about you, but I’m totally imagining Tessa Thompson peeking through the curtains of her trailer at an in-costume Russell Crowe throwing and twirling his prop thunderbolt around like a professional sign spinner. It’s a mental image that makes me giggle every time I conjure it.

In all seriousness, though, the passion and enthusiasm that Tessa Thompson effused for her work behind the scenes of Thor: Love and Thunder was a wonderful thing to see. On top of expressing genuine remorse that she didn’t get more time to practice with Zeus’ legendary weapon in the making of the blockbuster, she talked about bonding with her weapons in Thor: Ragnarok – the sword Dragonfang and her two daggers – and explained that she created a kind of intimacy with them. She continued,

The funny irony of this is that the relationship between a hero and their weapon of choice is actually a running joke in Thor: Love and Thunder, and while I won’t spoil the details of it in this forum, Tessa Thompson explained that the gag was something that wholly developed on set:

Audiences will get on this inside of this joke very soon, as Thor: Love And Thunder is now less than two weeks away from release (and buzz about the blockbuster is already growing). The Taika Waititi-directed Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbuster, starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Russell Crowe, and Tessa Thompson, arrives in theaters everywhere on July 8 – and tickets are on sale now.

The last time we saw Russell Crowe on the big screen was in 2020’s Unhinged, where he played an irate driver hunting down a single mother. The actor is now a little under two weeks away from making his theatrical return in Thor: Love and Thunder, where he’ll play the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Zeus. Before we officially meet this take on the Olympian God who “flicks too hard” (as seen in the Love and Thunder trailer), it’s been announced that Crowe is board a supernatural thriller titled The Pope’s Exorcist.

Russell Crowe will star in this upcoming horror movie as Father Gabriele Amorth, a real-life priest who served as the Vatican’s chief exorcist, performing 100,000 exorcisms before his death in 2016 at the age on 91. Amorth also wrote two memoirs, respectively titled An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories, where he discussed his time battling Satan and the demons that terrorized people. Screen Gems acquired Amorth’s life rights (which included the two memoirs) from Michael Patrick Kaczmarek and the faith-based media company Loyola Productions, and now The Pope’s Exorcist is moving forward from the film studio with Crowe as its lead.

As shared by THR, Overlord director Julius Avery is helming The Pope’s Exorcist, and the current draft of the script was penned by Evan Spiliotopoulos, with Chuck MacLean handling revisions. Earlier draft were written by Chester Hastings & R. Dean McCreary, and later revised by Michael Petroni. Avery said the following about getting to team up with Russell Crowe on The Pope’s Exorcist:

It sounds like The Pope’s Exorcist is taking a cue from the Conjuring movies, i.e. telling a fantastical story drawn from real life events. That being said, it’s hard to say if Screen Gems is looking to use this as a way to launch a film series/shared universe, or if the studio is content with this being a one-and-done affair. Some of Screen Gems’ recent horror offerings include The Grudge reboot, Don’t Breathe 2 and Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. The plan is for The Pope’s Exorcist to begin in Ireland this September, so as we move closer to the start date, hopefully we’ll learn who else will join Russell Crowe in the movie.

Along with The Pope’s Exorcist and the nearly-arrived Thor: Love and Thunder, Russell Crowe has a number of other movies lined up in the coming years. He recently wrapped shooting Kraven the Hunter, which stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the title character, though it still hasn’t been officially revealed who Crowe is playing. The Gladiator star has also already finished Peter Farrelly’s upcoming Apple movie The Greatest Beer Run Ever, as well as Poker Face, which Crowe co-wrote, directed and stars in opposite Liam Hemsworth and RZA.

While we wait for more details about what to expect from The Pope’s Exorcist, the 2022 movie releases guide is available for your cinematic viewing later this year on both the big screen and streaming platforms.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a behemoth force in the entertainment world, with acclaimed projects on both the small and silver screens. One of the most hotly anticipated upcoming Marvel movies is Chris Hemsworth’s upcoming fourth Thor movie. And Thor: Love and Thunder filmmaker Taika Waititi had a very on brand response to Russell Crowe on set.

Thor: Love and Thunder has a lot going for it, including the Guardians of the Galaxy, Natalie Portman’s (jacked) Mighty Thor, and some new characters. One of those newcomers is the great Russell Crowe, who is going to have a role as Zeus in the upcoming blockbuster. And while speaking with EW about the upcoming Marvel flick, Taika Waititi hilariously revealed his reaction to seeing the Gladiator star at work. In his words,

Sometimes an actor’s reputation precedes them. But other times they can catch directors off guard with their talent. The latter is what happened with Taika Waitti and Russell Crowe while on the mysterious set of Thor: Love and Thunder. It’s unclear how significant of a role Crowe will have as Zeus, but fans were delighted to see a glimpse of the actor in the movie’s first teaser trailer.

With every new story from the set, it’s more clear that Thor: Love and Thunder truly had a star-studded set. It’s already exciting that Natalie Portman returned as Jane Foster and the Guardians of the Galaxy had a role, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg to what Taika Watiti has up his sleeve. There’s also a role from Russell Crowe, as well as appearances by Melissa McCarthy, Jeff Goldblum, and Sam Neill.

The cast and crew of Thor: Love and Thunder have been keeping their cards close to the chest, but more information should presumably come as the blockbuster gets closer to its release this summer. It seems like the story could go seemingly anywhere, with Chris Hemsworth’s title character exploring the cosmos while also seemingly connecting with his Asgardian roots. Enter the OG God of Thunder, Russell Crowe’s Zeus. 

As a reminder, you can check out the first teaser for Thor: Love and Thunder below. While Russell Crowe’s face isn’t visible, there’s a brief shot that seemingly shows off Zeus. Although whether it’s a flashback or in the current timeline remains a mystery.

One possible reason for Zeus’ inclusion is related to Thor: Love and Thunder’s mysterious villain. Christian Bale is playing Gorr the God Butcher, and his name pretty much says it all. Unfortunately, Bale was noticeably absent throughout the movie’s first teaser trailer. Taika Waititi and Kevin Feige are definitely making the fandom earn any future of the upcoming sequel.

Thor: Love and Thunder is currently expected to arrive in theaters on July 8th, 2022. In the meantime, check out the 2022 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. 

Following in the wake of Venom, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and Morbius, Sony has big plans for the future of blockbusters vaguely related to Spider-Man. The franchise, known as Sony's Spider-Man Universe, is presently making a number of big projects, all of which are based on beloved villains and lesser-known supporting characters from the wall-crawler’s corner of the world in Marvel Comics. The various movies are all at different stages of development, but the next one set to debut will be J.C. Chandor’s Kraven The Hunter – which is not only well under way, but has put together a stellar ensemble cast.

Written by Richard Wenk (The Equalizer), Kraven The Hunter is a blockbuster that we don’t know too much about as far as plot goes, but we have learned a great deal about what to expect from the feature based on the characters that have been revealed as being included in the story. With the film still being in the works, it’s wholly possible that there are still more names to be announced, but for now, here are all of the actors we know have parts to play in the upcoming feature:

Aaron Taylor-Johnson

Aaron Taylor-Johnson has quite a lot of comic book movie experience at this point in his career. His big break came from playing the titular hero in the two Kick-Ass films, and he followed those features by becoming Pietro Maximoff a.k.a. Quicksilver in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (plus there is also his supporting role in The King’s Man). With Kraven The Hunter, his resume in this specific realm will grow further, as he is playing the titular character a.k.a. Sergei Kravinoff in the upcoming film. Not much is known about how the project will treat the famed Spider-Man villain, but we expect that he’ll be striving to be known as the world’s greatest hunter, like his on-the-page counterpart.

Fred Hechinger

Kraven The Hunter isn’t the only Spider-Man villain who is set to have a principal role in the character’s upcoming solo film. Also set to make his live-action premiere in the blockbuster is Dmitri Smerdyakov – the half-brother of Sergei Kravinoff who is best known by the moniker The Chameleon. In the comics, the character is a brilliant master of disguise and can be undetectable when pretending to be another person. Fred Hechinger, coming off a 2021 that saw him star in The White Lotus and the Fear Street trilogy, is playing the part, though we don’t really know anything about how Chameleon will be worked into the plot.

Russell Crowe

Like Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Russell Crowe is another actor who has reached a point in his career when he is collecting comic book film parts. A decade ago, the Oscar-winning actor earned the love of DC fans worldwide playing Superman’s father, Jor-El, in Man of Steel (a role he reprised in Zack Snyder’s Justice League), and he has also become a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – set to play the godly Zeus in Thor: Love And Thunder. Crowe signed on to Kraven The Hunter in February 2022, but one detail left out of the news was anything about the role he will be taking on. Knowing his history, he could easily be playing either a hero or a villain in the upcoming blockbuster, so all bets are off in terms of what to expect from his performance.

Ariana DeBose

Ariana DeBose didn’t exactly demonstrate a great deal of patience when it came to landing her first comic book movie role following her critically acclaimed turn in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. In February 2022, she joined the cast of Kraven The Hunter… and a few weeks later she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She will reportedly be playing the role of Calypso in the film, who is the romantic lead for the eponymous protagonist and probably best known for pushing Kraven into hunting Spider-Man.

Alessandro Nivola

Unlike most of his male co-stars in Kraven The Hunter, Alessandro Nivola doesn’t have any comic book movie experience, but his part in the production is no less exciting as a result, as he has proven himself one of the industry’s most reliable character actors since the mid-1990s. In 2021 he earned praise for his role as Dickie Moltisanti in The Many Saints Of Newark (the Sopranos prequel movie), and in addition to his work on Kraven, he has already finished working on new movies directed by David O. Russell (a project that doesn’t have a title yet) and Noah Baumbach (an adaptation of the Don DeLillo novel White Noise). We don’t yet know what part he is playing in the Spider-Man spinoff, but it’s news we anticipate learning in the months to come.

Christopher Abbott

At this point in his career, Christopher Abbott is best known for his work on the small screen, having starred in shows including Girls, The Sinner, and the miniseries Catch-22, but blockbuster experience is on the horizon thanks to his part in Kraven The Hunter. We don’t know anything about how he will fit into the plot of the film, but Abbott is reportedly set up to play The Foreigner – who is another Spider-Man villain from Marvel Comics. The character is a mercenary/assassin who is one of the world’s most gifted, non-super fighters on Earth (this will be his first live-action appearance), and one can imagine him providing a challenge for Sergei Kravinoff in his pursuit of being known as the world’s greatest hunter.

Kraven The Hunter is very much on its way, and if all goes according to plan, it will be arriving in theaters everywhere on October 6, 2023. We plan to regularly add to this feature as new actors are announced as part of the film’s ensemble, and you can continue to find any and all major updates about the project in the CinemaBlend Superhero section. To learn about all of the big features - including mulitple upcoming Marvel movies - that are on the way between now and the release of Kraven, head on over to our 2023 movie schedule.

Plenty of people know Russell Crowe from movies like Gladiator, Cinderella Man and American Gangster, but in 2013, the actor jumped into the superhero movie realm for the first time to play Jor-El, Superman’s Kryptonian father, in Man of Steel. Then last year, Russell Crowe revealed that he’d be lending his performing talents to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Zeus for Thor: Love and Thunder. Now Crowe has added yet another superhero film franchise to his resume, as he’ll be appearing in Kraven the Hunter.

This will be the fourth movie in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, with Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage having come and gone, and the Jared Leto-led Morbius slated to arrive in April. It was announced last May that Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who previously starred as Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron, will bring Kraven the Hunter to life in live action, and now he finally has a co-star for the project. THR didn’t share any details on who Russell Crowe will play in Kraven the Hunter, but did note that many of the movie’s main characters will be Kraven’s family members.

This isn’t to say that Russell Crowe will necessarily be playing a member of said family, but working within that metric, there’s certainly enough of an age gap between him and Aaron Taylor-Johnson for the former potentially appear as the latter’s father or uncle. It’s also possible Crowe could be playing Kraven the Hunter’s main villain, although since the title character primarily faces off against Spider-Man or other established superheroes in the comics, this would likely need to be an original character. Hey, why not combine both and have Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven fight his antagonistic father?

We’ll just have to wait and see how Russell Crowe specifically fits into the Kraven the Hunter picture, but now the actor has his foot in Hollywood’s three biggest superhero universes. As things currently stand, audiences have only seen his work inside the DCEU, as Crowe played Jor-El at the beginning of Man of Steel, as well as an artificial intelligence program modeled after the Kryptonian scientist that informed Kal-El/Clark Kent about his alien heritage and aided him in his conflict against General Zod in the present-day narrative. MCU fans will get to see his portrayal of Zeus when Thor: Love and Thunder comes out in July, and hopefully this appearance paves the way for Hercules and other Olympian characters to be introduced.

As far as Kraven the Hunter behind-the-scenes talent goes, Triple Frontier’s J.C. Chandor is directing the movie off of a script written by Iron Man duo Art Marcum & Matt Holloway and The Equalizer’s Richard Wenk. Since Kraven the Hunter is slated for a January 13, 2023 release, filming will obviously begin soon, so it stands to reason we’ll be getting more casting updates in the coming weeks. This Russell Crowe news follows nearly a week after it was reported that Dakota Johnson is being lined up to lead Madame Web, another forthcoming entry in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.

CinemaBlend will pass along any notable updates on Kraven the Hunter’s progress, but for now, there are plenty of 2022 movie releases to keep fans entertained for the near future.

It has been nearly a decade-and-a-half since the story of Harlem drug kingpin Frank Lucas was brought to the silver screen with American Gangster. Like many of Ridley Scott’s best movies that have come before and since, the 2007 crime drama featured an outstanding group of actors like Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, and other established stars, as well as a few actors who were on the rise. 

If you have been wondering what the American Gangster cast has been up to all these years and where their careers have taken them since they appeared in one of the best movies of 2007, buckle up, because we’re about to go for a ride…

Denzel Washington (Frank Lucas)

American Gangster, which happens to be one of the best Denzel Washington movies, sees the two-time Oscar winner portray the late New York drug trafficker Frank Lucas. Washington’s career following his appearance in Ridley Scott’s epic drama has been just as successful as it was before, with the actor being nominated for four Academy Awards in the past decade alone. 

In the past few years, Washington has appeared in movies like The Equalizer 2, The Little Things, and, most recently, The Tragedy of Macbeth in which he plays the titular Lord in Joel Coen’s Shakespeare adaptation. Washington has also produced multiple projects, including Fences (which he directed and starred in) and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. 

Russell Crowe (Richie Roberts)

The best Russell Crowe movies are those that see the decorated actor portray complicated characters, and that's the case with detective-turned-attorney Richie Roberts in American Gangster. Since taking on the role of Frank Lucas’s pursuer (and later defense attorney), Crowe has continued to make a case for being one of the most interesting actors in Hollywood. 

In the past couple of years, Crowe has appeared in Boy Erased, Unhinged, and The Loudest Voice, for which he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Miniseries in 2020. Crowe is next set to portray Zeus in Taika Waititi’s second entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor: Love and Thunder.

Chiwetel Ejiofor (Huey Lucas)

Chiwetel Ejiofor has a prominent role in American Gangster as Huey Lucas, Frank’s brother and an instrumental player in the family’s drug empire. Ejiofor was already a notable actor by the time he joined the American Gangster cast, thanks to Love Actually, Inside Man, and Children of Men, but the years following the film’s release have been some of the best for talented actor. 

Movies like 12 Years a Slave, The Martian, and Doctor Strange have done nothing but propel Ejiofor into superstardom, as have recent tiles like The Old Guard and Locked Down. Expect to see more of the Academy Award nominee in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and The Man Who Fell to Earth.

Josh Brolin (Detective Trupo)

Josh Brolin gave one of the best villainous performances of his career when he took on the role of Detective Nick Trupo in American Gangster. Although Brolin had already established himself as one of the best actors around, the 2007 drama came out just as the Hollywood star reached new heights. 

Some of the best Josh Brolin movies have followed in past decade-and-a-half, including No Country For Old Men, Milk, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame in which he portrayed Thanos. Brolin returned to the MCU in 2021 to voice the Mad Titan once again on an episode of What If…? the same year he would appear in Flag Day and Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Dune.

Lymari Nadal (Eva)

Lymari Nadal appears in American Gangster as Eva Lucas, the Puerto Rican beauty queen who becomes Frank’s wife. Not long after the release of Ridley Scott’s crime drama, Nadal appeared in Battlestar Galactica: The Plan (reprising her role of Giana from the show’s first season), America, and several other productions until 2016. According to a 2015 piece by KFOR News in Oklahoma City, Nadal moved to Oklahoma and was leading an initiative to recruit more bilingual teachers.

Ted Levine (Lou Toback)

Ted Levine shows up in American Gangster as Lou Toback, the Newark police captain who puts Richie Roberts up to the task of leading the department’s drug task force. The actor, who made a name for himself with a terrifying performance as Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs, has spent much of the past few years bouncing between film and television with major roles on shows like The Alienist and Big Sky, and a list of movies that includes Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom and A Violent Separation. 

John Hawkes (Freddie Spearman)

One of the best character actors around, John Hawkes portrayed detective Freddie Spearman in American Gangster. In the years following the release of the movie, Hawkes landed a few of the biggest roles of his career including spots in The Sessions and Winter’s Bone, both of which netted him numerous award considerations, including Academy Award nominations. 

More recently, Hawkes has appeared in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, The Peanut Butter Falcon, and End of Sentence. His television work includes a return to the role of Sol Star in 2019’s Deadwood: The Movie and Too Old to Die Young.

Cuba Gooding Jr. (Nicky Barnes)

Cuba Gooding Jr. takes on the role of crime lord Nicky Barnes in American Gangster. In the years following the release of Ridley Scott’s epic drama, Gooding Jr. went on to have some of the biggest success of his career including The Butler, Selma, and American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson, a performance that earned him a great deal of praise and multiple award nominations. The Academy Award winner’s most recent film appearance came in the 2020 drama Life in a Year.

Idris Elba (Tango)

Idris Elba only appears briefly in American Gangster, but his portrayal of the drug dealer named Tango is one to remember (he gets shot point blank by Frank Lucas, in case you forgot). Elba was only a few years removed from his turn as Stringer Bell on The Wire and was just about to become an even bigger star. 

Since then, Elba has appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Fast and Furious franchise, and several other major productions. Here recently, Elba has been in Concrete Cowboy, The Suicide Squad, and The Harder They Fall. Expect to see him soon in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Beast, and the long-awaited Luther film adaptation.

Common (Turner Lucas)

Taking on the role of Turner Lucas in American Gangster is rapper-turned-actor Common, whose career has only continued to be on the rise in the nearly 15 years since the film’s release. In the past few years, Common has gone toe-to-toe with Keanu Reeves’ lethal assassin in John Wick: Chapter 2, showed up in movies like Girls Trip, The Hate U Give, and Hunter Killer, and just about everything else. He will next appear in Charlie Day’s star-studded comedy El Tonto. In 2018, Common even formed a jazz supergroup called August Greene, per Billboard.

Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. (Stevie Lucas)

Taking on the role of Stevie Lucas, Frank’s eager nephew, in American Gangster is Clifford Joseph Harris Jr., better known as Atlanta rapper T.I. The rapper-turned-actor’s appearance in the 2007 crime thriller was only his second film role, though he has since gone on to appear in the first two Ant-Man movies, Takers, Roots, and, most recently, Monster Hunter. 

And, even though he has increased his acting output over the course of the past decade, T.I. hasn’t really slowed down with his music career, releasing his 11th studio album The L.I.B.R.A. in 2020 with his 12th and final release Kill the King currently in the works, per Rap-Up.

RZA (Moses Jones)

Taking on the role of Moses Jones in American Gangster is Wu-Tang Clan member and actor RZA. Over the years, RZA has appeared in movies like Brick Mansions, The Dead Don’t Die, and most recently, Nobody, alongside Bob Odenkirk. RZA is slated to provide voice work in the upcoming animated film Minions: The Rise of Gru. The prolific music producer and rapper hasn’t lost track of his first love, as he continues to release records, including the 2021 album RZA vs Bobby Digital.

Ruby Dee (Mahalee Lucas)

And then there is the late, great Ruby Dee, who portrayed Mahalee Lucas, Frank’s mom, in American Gangster. Prior to her death at the age of 91 in June 2014, Dee appeared in countless film, television, and stage productions in addition to writing multiple books of poetry. 

Over the years, Dee gave landmark performances in A Raisin in the Sun, The Jackie Robinson Story, Do the Right Thing, and The Stand, to name a few. Dee also received a tremendous number of accolades throughout her life, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Grammy, the National Medal of Arts, and the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal.

This is just a small portion of the outstanding American Gangster cast, as listing every single actor who appeared in Ridley Scott's crime epic would just keep going and going. After checking out this list, take a look at all the 2022 movie releases, so you can read all about where you'll see these actors in the very near future.