Movies Are You Ready For Gladiator 2?

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

For some inexplicable reason, the budget has swollen to over $300 million.

 

Rambling Roundup: Ridley Scott’s Very Expensive Roman Holiday

WWW.HOLLYWOODREPORTER.COM

---

Plus, Jon Peters cuts a check for Jan. 6 hairstylist, why Beverly Hills is raging over a no-remodeling rule and how The Grill kept Jackie Gleason on his feet.

 

Quote

With accidents on the set, complaints about animal abuse and now reports that the production went wildly over budget, sources tell Rambling Reporter that Ridley Scott’s long-anticipated Gladiator sequel is leaving Paramount execs feeling a bit like Joaquin Phoenix’s Emperor Commodus — “terribly vexed.” Initially budgeted at $165 million, sources say that figure has ballooned to something closer to $310 million. (Paramount insiders insist the net cost of the 49-day shoot was under $250 million.) “It’s a runaway,” says one source. “It’s not being managed.” The strikes account for some of that money; the shutdowns starting in July reportedly cost $600,000 a week, or a total of about $10 million, until Scott resumed shooting in December (though there were reports he kept cameras rolling during the work stoppages, shooting extras at crowd scenes in Malta, where he built a Coliseum set). But even before the walkouts, Fortuna clearly frowned on this sequel, which stars Paul Mescal as a grown-up Lucius, the young royal in the original who worshiped Russell Crowe’s Maximus. A stunt gone wrong in June sent four crewmembers to the hospital with non-life-threatening burn injuries. Then in July, PETA sent an open letter to Scott filled with “whistleblower” reports about horses and monkeys being abused on the set — reports that sources close to the production deny, noting that the Humane Society was on-site during filming. 

 

[Derek]

He's almost 90. Budgets are probably starting to get confusing for him.