In the Hollywood business, one actor’s rejection can become another actor’s success story. This is what happened in the case of Gladiator star Russell Crowe when he rejected a huge acting opportunity that gave Hugh Jackman his launch to stardom.
The role of Wolverine catapulted Jackman’s career and raised the X-Men franchise to what it is today. There’s a catch, though. Crowe expressed no remorse at all about turning down the part and only had positive things to say about Jackman.
The inside story on why Russell Crowe turned down the role of Wolverine
There are moments when even a Gladiator must lay down his sword. In Russell Crowe‘s story, this came in the face of rejecting one of the biggest roles in Hollywood. In Bryan Singer‘s 2000 blockbuster movie X-Men, Russell Crowe was considered a top contender for playing Wolverine. However, the actor turned the role down, and almost two decades later, revealed the reasoning behind it.
In a past interview with The Howard Stern Show in 2019, the actor revealed he would not have been able to bring the same zeal and vigor to the role that Hugh Jackman brought and added:
There’s no way I would have ever done that. (Further) Even if I’d done the film, I wouldn’t have carried it through with the grace and the direction that Hugh gave it.
Russell Crowe’s reasoning makes sense considering Jackman’s extensive, decades-long portrayal of the classic role. The Gladiator star did, however, recall in a few previous interviews on why he chose not to participate in Singer’s X-Men. And it had something to do with the Gladiator movie directed by Ridley Scott that he already had in his hands. As co-host of Fitzy & Wippa on the radio (via News.com.au), he recalled:
Bryan was a friend at the time. (Further) he was really putting the pressure on. If you remember, Maximus has a wolf at the center of his cuirass, and he has a wolf as his companion … which I thought was going to be a bigger deal (at the time). So, I said no because I didn’t want to be ‘wolfy’, like ‘Mr. Wolf’.
Although this was Crowe’s pre-film thought process, many of the wolf themes and narratives were left out of the Gladiator movie’s final cut. But in the end, it was Russell Crowe himself who pointed Singer towards Hugh Jackman for the role of Wolverine, and the rest is history.
Hugh Jackman acknowledged in a 2012 interview with EW (via News.com.au) that he owes Russell Crowe his career because the actor had suggested Jackman for two of his most prominent Hollywood roles. The first was X-Men, and the second was Australia, directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Nicole Kidman.
Russell Crowe’s inputs for the upcoming Gladiator 2 starring Paul Mescal in the lead
Gladiator II is set after the events of the original movie and surely looks spectacular, as evident by the recently released trailer. This time, the central character of the movie would be a Gladiator named Lucius Verus, portrayed by Normal People star Paul Mescal. He is the grandson of Marcus Aurelius, the ancient Roman Emperor who was portrayed in the original movie by Richard Harris.
However, the emperor was assassinated by his ambitious son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) when he appointed Crowe’s Maximus as his successor. At the end of the movie, Commodus and Maximus engage in a fierce duel in which the latter loses his life.
While the movie presents the subject in a fresh way, Russell Crowe feels a little “uncomfortable” about the sequel. In interview on “Kyle Meredith With…,” Crowe added:
I’m slightly uncomfortable, the fact that they’re making another one, you know? Because of course, I’m dead, and I have no say in what gets done. A couple of things that I’ve heard, I’m like, ‘No, no, no. That’s not in the moral journey of that particular character.’
But you know, I can’t say anything. That’s not my place. I’m six feet under. So we’ll see what that is like.
The actor’s reasoning for the same was that the movie paved the way for him in the movie business. It opened several new opportunities for him. Further, with the sequel, he feels a hint of jealousy and envy, as it makes him ponder over the time when he was more agile.
While Russell Crowe might not feel too agile right now, he has four movies up for post-production, namely The Exorcism, Rothko, Nuremberg, and Marvel’s Kraven the Hunter.
X-Men (2000) is available to stream on Disney+. On the other hand, Gladiator II is scheduled for a theatrical release on November 22.
