Paramount Pictures
Ridley Scott has directed, among many other films, three Alien movies, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Kingdom of Heaven, and Napoleon.
The reason we mention those films specifically is because they all (except for the original Alien film) contain massive set pieces that only a director of Ridley Scott’s caliber could pull off. Just look at his rendition of the Battle of Austerlitz in 2023’s Napoleon.
And yet, despite all of the massive set pieces he’s staged throughout his five-decade career, Scott says that the opening of Gladiator II, hitting theaters this Fall, is “probably the biggest action sequence” he’s ever done. As a reminder, Sir Ridley Scott is 86-years-old.
“We begin the film with probably the biggest action sequence I’ve ever done,” the legendary Blade Runner filmmaker told Empire Magazine in a recent interview. “Probably bigger than anything in Napoleon.”
In addition to the films already mentioned in this article, Scott has also directed popular movies such as Thelma & Louise, G.I. Jane, Hannibal, American Gangster, Body of Lies, The Counselor, The Martian, The Last Duel, House of Gucci, and many more.
Gladiator II, which will be released in movie theaters in the United States on Friday, November 22, stars Oscar nominee Paul Mescal as Lucius, the son of Connie Nielsen’s Lucilla, who grew to revere Russell Crowe’s Maximus in the original Best Picture-winning film.
Alongside Mescal, Gladiator II also stars Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn, Connie Nielsen, Fred Hechinger, Derek Jacobi, and more.
Check out the official trailer for Gladiator II, which has wound up being weirdly controversial due to the decision to set the trailer to “No Church in the Wild” by Jay-Z and Kanye West, below.