Russell Crowe is too dour and dull.
Mel, who was given the script for Maximus ahead of Crowe but turned it down due to committments with Chicken Run, would have been charismatic and a far bigger attraction as the star.
A bit like a Roman Mad Maximus?
He did it better in Braveheart.
Not that Gladiator wasn’t good, but it simply wouldn’t have existed without Braveheart paving the way. And Braveheart did it without CGI.
I disagree, he would have been excellent, and Gladiator would've existed anyway.
I'd loved also to have seen him in the Departed.
You might enjoy Dragged Across Concrete (2018) starring Mel and Vince Vaughn. It’s a police thriller with a lot of snappy dialogue and although it’s not action packed it keeps your attention.
shareCrowe's a much better actor than Gibson, who has just virtually done the same performance over and over his entire career.
For example, Hamlet was just Riggs attempting Shakespeare, and William Wallace was just Riggs with a dodgy Scottish accent, and an even dodgier ginger wig.
I like Crowe but he's not a much better actor. I think they're on the same tier as far as talent. Both excellent actors with decent range.
shareI give Mel a slight edge over Crowe as far as acting chops. He has more range and has shown he can be great in ANY genre. And his comedic timing is unrivaled. Crowe...not so much.
I was watching The Bounty just the other night.....and damn, Gibson is a good actor.
Gibson was awful in The Bounty.
One of the worst performances I've ever seen.
It didn't help that he was sharing the screen with Anthony Hopkins and Daniel Day Lewis, and they showed him up for the average actor he is.
He does have great comedic timing as he's proven in movies like Maverick, On The Line, Lethal Weapon 1-4 etc. I would give him the slight edge as well over Crowe, even though I like Crowe as well.
Dude ripping on Mel doesn't know what he's taking about.
He could have done a great Wolverine way back in the day, with those Popeye forearms and irascible demeanor.
shareStill waiting for him to return to the Mad Max world as a grumpy old recluse forced to get involved in something.
shareBrad Pitt. Seeing how well he portrayed Achilles in "Troy" he would have killed the role. If viewers weren't keen on a blond Roman Iberian, they could have changed his ethnicity to a Roman Gaul.
shareNo, he's just too small to be a convincing gladiator. He's 5'6" and slim, and was officially 44 when Gladiator came out (but rumor has always had it that he'd deducted a 5-10 years from his age). Size and strength confer and advantage in sword and shield and net and trident combat, and gladiators weren't separated by weight class.
Crowe wasn't a very big man either, but he was solid and muscular back in 2000, and as long as they cast medium-sized guys as his opponents, he could look like a man who might survive a few gladiatorial combats.