While filming Gladiator, Russell Crowe was so unhappy with the writing that he often stormed off set when he couldn’t rewrite it himself.
Ego really can get to the best of us. During the filming of Gladiator, a movie now famous for the phrase “Are you not entertained?” as well as a few notable mistakes in production, Russell Crowe’s ego might have gotten a bit too big. Crowe was reportedly unhappy with the screenplay for the film.
Apparently, he rewrote much of it so that it would suit him better. When things didn’t go his way, he would often walk off the set. When he couldn’t change certain lines, he would refuse to say them. One of the more famous lines from the movie, “In this life or the next, I will have my vengeance,” was one such line he refused to say.
He told writer William Nicholson “Your lines are garbage but I’m the greatest actor in the world and I can make even garbage sound good.”
