Gladiator II director Ridley Scott is debunking star Denzel Washington‘s claims that a gay kiss was cut from the long-awaited sequel.
The 69-year-old actor said in an interview with Gayety earlier this month that he, ‘actually kissed a man in the film but they took it out, I think they got chicken.’
He added, ‘I kissed a guy full on the lips and they… I guess they weren’t ready for that yet. I killed him about five minutes later.’
However, Scott was interviewed by Variety at the Los Angeles premiere on Monday, and when asked about the ‘kiss with the boy,’ he seemed quite confused.
‘He kills the Senator, is that what you mean?’ The interviewer said, ‘Denzel said he kissed a man on the lips but it didn’t make the final cut,’ as Scott insisted, ‘No, that’s bulls**t.’
Gladiator II director Ridley Scott is debunking star Denzel Washington ‘s claims that a gay kiss was cut from the long-awaited sequel
He added, ‘I kissed a guy full on the lips and they… I guess they weren’t ready for that yet. I killed him about five minutes later’
Scott added, ‘It was a Senator,’ and another man off camera said, ‘We even went back and looked at the film, there was never (a gay kiss).’
Scott explained, ‘They never did. They acted the moment and it didn’t happen. It didn’t happen because they acted the moment as if he (did).’
When the same interviewer caught up with Denzel on the red carpet on Monday, revealing that Ridley Scott claimed to have never seen the gay kiss, the actor seemed to change his story a bit.
‘It’s much ado about nothing, it really is much ado about nothing, you know, they’re making more of it than it was,’ Denzel said.
‘I kissed him on his hands, I gave him a peck and I killed him,’ Denzel said with a laugh.
When the interviewer – a gay man – said ‘us gay boys wanna see Denzel kissing another man,’ the actor said, ‘Well, I don’t have the part yet, are you gonna write it?’
After Denzel’s original interview made headlines, a source told TMZ that Denzel’s kiss was improvised and wasn’t even in the script.
Gladiator II star Paul Mescal also opened up about an idea for a scene he had with Pedro Pascal where he wanted to kiss his co-star on the forehead.
Scott added, ‘It was a Senator,’ and another man off camera said, ‘We even went back and looked at the film, there was never (a gay kiss)’
Scott explained, ‘They never did. They acted the moment and it didn’t happen. It didn’t happen because they acted the moment as if he (did)’
Scott explained, ‘They never did. They acted the moment and it didn’t happen. It didn’t happen because they acted the moment as if he (did)’
When the same interviewer caught up with Denzel on the red carpet on Monday, revealing that Ridley Scott claimed to have never seen the gay kiss, the actor seemed to change his story a bit
‘I kissed him on his hands, I gave him a peck and I killed him,’ Denzel said with a laugh
‘There was a moment when we were rehearsing my fight scene with Pedro, and I had an idea towards the end of the scene to kiss Pedro on the forehead,’ the 28-year-old Englishman told EW last month.
‘I did it in one of the takes, and then we’re getting the radio messages back to Ridley and I was like, “Ridley, kiss on the forehead, did you like it? Yay or nay?”‘ Mescal said.
‘There was radio silence for a second. His radio crackles back and [sarcastically] goes “I’m afraid I did,”‘ Mescal said, adding, ‘I think Ridley’s one of the funniest men I’ve ever come across.’
Gladiator II hits American theaters this Friday, though it has already performed well overseas with an $87 million foreign debut.