Joaquin Phoenix was not ready to enter the “Gladiator” arena — and Russell Crowe didn’t like it.
The movie’s director, Ridley Scott, spoke to The New York Times before the upcoming release of “Gladiator II” and revealed that the first few days of production didn’t go as planned – mainly because Phoenix was overwhelmed and Crowe believed his behavior was “unprofessional.”
Phoenix, 50, played the Roman emperor Commodus in the historic flick, opposite Crowe, 60, as Maximus, a general-turned-slave looking for revenge.
“[Joaquin] was in his prince’s outfit saying, ‘I can’t do it,’” Scott recalled to the Times. “I said, ‘What?’ And Russell said, ‘This is terribly unprofessional.’”
Scott said he did whatever he could to ease Phoenix’s nerves and keep him around.
“I can act as a big brother or dad. But I’m quite a friend of Joaquin’s. Gladiator was a baptism of fire for both of us in the beginning,” he shared.
Phoenix previously opened up about his hesitation on the movie set.
“I absolutely have that nervousness on every movie…but I think that probably Gladiator was one of the most intimidating because the first set that I went on was just massive,” the “Joker: Folie à Deux” actor told Collider in 2018.
“It looked like it was acres of land, and tons of trucks and trailers and, you know, hundreds of extras, and multiple cameras,” Phoenix explained. “Suddenly the scale of this hit me and I was overwhelmed by that. I didn’t think that I was going to be able to make it through that.”
The star even tried to back out of the film.
“I went to [Scott] and said, ‘I don’t know what to do, I just can’t do this. I don’t know what you’re gonna do. This just isn’t gonna be possible,’” Phoenix said “And Ridley was really smart. He just shot me for four hours and he didn’t put film in the camera…he wasn’t gonna waste film. He’s like, ‘It’s gonna be hours before this kid f—ing gets anything, if at all, so I’m not gonna waste film.’”
Despite the drama, “Gladiator” won five Academy Awards — including Best Picture. However, neither Phoenix nor Crowe will appear in the “Gladiator” sequel, set to release on Nov. 22.
Paul Mescal plays Lucius, son of Maximus, who is forced back into the gladiator arena like his father after his wife is killed. The sequel also stars Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington.
Phoenix has dropped out of films before.
In Sept., actor James McAvoy claimed Joaquin exited the 2016 thriller “Split” just weeks before filming began. The role ended up going to McAvoy.
Most recently, Phoenix ditched Todd Haynes’ NC-17 gay romance film days before production started, reportedly after getting “cold feet.”
The actor failed to give a reason why he abruptly exited the movie during a press conference in Sept.
“I think if I do [speak about the reasoning], I’d just be sharing my opinion from my perspective, and the other creatives aren’t here to say their piece, and it just doesn’t feel like that would be right,” Phoenix responded when asked about his shocking departure.
