Brighton, 2004

After finishing The Proposition, Nick Cave got a phone call from Russell Crowe, an old acquaintance, to see if he was interested in writing a Gladiator sequel. ''I said, 'Look, mate, you died in the first one, how are you going to do that?''' Director Ridley Scott suggested Cave watch Ingmar Bergman films for inspiration. But Cave may have been too inspired by the cryptic Swedish director. Here's what he came up with: ''Maximus becomes a warrior who can never die — an eternal warrior. At the end is this 20-minute war sequence where he rubs his hands in the earth and each time he stands up he's in another war. It goes on and on through history, [including] Vietnam.'' Needless to say, Cave's Gladiator 2 won't be coming to a theater near you. ''Russell didn't like it, basically because the Gladiator walks around in a complete daze for the whole film.''

http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1193531-4-4_4%7C67179%7C322351%7C1_0_,00.html