Gladiator star Russell Crowe branded Joaquin Phoenix ‘terribly unprofessional’ on set of 2000 movie

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Get our The Life Cinematic email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Ridley Scott has revealed that Russell Crowe was left unimpressed by Gladiator co-star Joaquin Phoenix. After that, James McAvoy claimed that he was only cast in M Night Shyamalan’s 2016 thriller Split as Phoenix had quit the role weeks before the film was scheduled to begin production. Lead star Crowe, who played Maximus in the Best Picture-winning epic, was not happy with his co-star, with Scott revealing that he exclaimed: “This is terribly unprofessional.” Fortunately, Scott convinced Phoenix to stay on in the role of Commodus, which would go on to earn him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Plan auto-renews until cancelled Try for free Joaquin Phoenix and Ridley Scott Scott worked with Phoenix again on the 2023 film Napoleon, which Phoenix is also rumoured to have threatened to quit – but Scott remained coy on that suggestion in the new interview When asked to comment on his decision to quit Haynes’s project, Phoenix told Screen International at Venice Film Festival in August: ”If I do, I would 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, I’m not sure how that would be helpful.” Meanwhile, Haynes’ long-time producer Christine Vachon called the situation “tragic”, stating: “The idea that his time was wasted and that a movie is not a result of those years of working closely with Joaquin… That is the tragedy to me.