'Gladiator II' director compares Denzel Washington's character to Trump: 'A clever gangster'
Ridley Scott, the director of "Gladiator II," said during an interview that Denzel Washington's character in the movie, Marcinus, was similar to President-elect Trump.
"[Macrinus] was a prisoner of war — probably at a North African state — and actually was taken to Rome probably as a gladiator. Survived. Got free. Got into the business of maybe making wine and bread. He evolved into a very rich merchant selling s--- to the Roman armies — food, oil, wine, cloth, weapons, everything. He maybe had a million men spread around Europe. So he was a billionaire at the time, so why wouldn’t he [have ambitions toward the throne]? ‘Why not me?’ He’s also a gangster — very close to Trump. A clever gangster. He creates chaos and from chaos he can evolve," Scott told The Hollywood Reporter.
"Gladiator II" hit theaters on Friday and also stars Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, Joseph Quinn, and Fred Hechinger.
"He’s trying to use everybody. He’d use his mother, he’d use his own children; he’s already used up his soul, so he didn’t have any left. He’s in bed with the devil," Washington told the outlet about his character.
‘GLADIATOR II’ DIRECTOR RIDLEY SCOTT BACKTRACKS ON AI AFTER CALLING IT A ‘TECHNICAL HYDROGEN BOMB’
The Hollywood Reporter also asked Scott about how it was working with Washington.
"We were right in the middle of Harlem and Denzel was like, ‘Do you know what you’re doing?’ ‘Of course I know what the f--- I’m doing.’ ‘Do you know about this music?’ ‘Of course I do.’ Once he saw I knew what I was doing, he was very sweet. With [Gladiator II], I think he was a bit shocked by the scale. How could he not be? Of course, I’m used to it," Scott responded.
Washington recently opened up about his sobriety during an interview with Esquire. He revealed he was drinking two bottles of win a day.
"Wine is very tricky. It’s very slow. It ain’t like, boom, all of a sudden," Washington said. "And part of it was, we built this big house in 1999 with a 10,000-bottle wine cellar, and I learned to drink the best. So, I’m going to drink my ’61s and my ’82s and whatever we had. Wine was my thing, and now I was popping $4,000 bottles just because that’s what was left."
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE
During the "Gladiator II" premiere, Washington had a notable encounter with King Charles, as the cast members all met with him.
"I didn’t know if I was supposed to grab your hand or not," Washington smiled as he gave Charles a handshake.
Fox News' Stephanie Giang-Paunon contributed to this report.