Jupiter offers him a deal: if he kills Hephaestus, then he will be reunited with his wife and son in the golden wheat fields of Elysium.

but within it the presage of pandemonium. “He is an agitator,” say Jupiter of Hephaestus. Understandably, Crowe was keener on a film that he could actually be in, and so he hired another screenwriter, Nick Cave. Scott’s plan was to commission John Logan, one of the screenwriters of Gladiator, to write a sequel which would be set in ancient Rome, but which wouldn’t feature either Crowe or gladiators. The tale of Nicolas Cage almost playing Superman Terry Gilliam’s ‘cursed’ Quixote film is here How could Scott and Crowe make Gladiator 2? Only by thinking outside the box – several miles outside the box. But Gladiator leaves no questions unanswered, no plot lines unresolved, no logical way for its striking story to continue. In 2001, it won five Oscars, including best picture and best actor, and it took $457m (£355m) at the box office, so you can’t blame its director and star for wanting another taste of that astounding success. In short, if ever there was a film that didn’t cry out for a sequel, it’s Gladiator.