Culture Crave Newsletter — #9 ⚔️🏛

Happy Wednesday, readers! We have a packed newsletter for you today 📩

Facts and details on Gladiator 2

Curious about Gladiator 2? We’ve gathered answers to some of the most frequently asked questions and shared spoiler-free behind-the-scenes details about the project ⚔️

• Ridley Scott cast Paul Mescal after watching Normal People and because he looked like a young Richard Harris (who played Marcus Aurelius)

• The first cut was 3 hours and 40 minutes — it may get released someday

• May Calamaway confirmed at London Comic-Con that her role was cut. She says working with Denzel Washington was the coolest experience

• Ridley Scott had been developing a sequel for over two decades and he’s ~13 pages into writing Gladiator 3

• Flooding the colosseum was historically accurate… but sharks? Historians say that was unlikely

• The rhino was an ILM animatronic enhanced with VFX — Ridley Scott wanted it in the OG film but the tech wasn’t advanced enough at the time

• Djimon Hounsou was supposed to reprise his role as Juba but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts

• Ridley Scott says all his emperors are crazy due to drinking from lead pipes. Modern testing shows ancient Rome's water contained 100 times more lead than normal

• There is a scene with a newspaper. The printing press would not be invented for another 1,200 years

• The budget has been reported anywhere from $210M-$310M, with the most recent figure being $250M. The production received state aid of ~$50M for filming in Malta

• Ridley Scott credits streaming platforms for helping Gladiator reach a younger audience, which he says helped get the sequel made

• Geta and Caracalla were not twins in real life, but the brothers did co-rule

Red One continues Chris Evans’ disappointing streak

Outside of a notable supporting role in Deadpool 3, Chris Evans’ recent lead projects have been critical duds. However, his upcoming slate includes promising collaborations with acclaimed filmmakers Ethan Coen and Celine Song

Amazon’s TV slate is looking interesting

Other TV news

• Tony Gilroy received no notes for Andor S2 and essentially had full creative control due to S1’s positive reception 🙏

• The Boys S5 is now filming — it will be the final season, but as you saw above, several spinoffs are in the works 🦸‍♂️

• More than 85K TV episodes were used to train AI including every episode of Breaking Bad, The Wire, and The Sopranos 🤦‍♂️

• HBO stands by JK Rowling as it reboots Harry Potter for TV

Game of the Year nominees were announced

The nominees:

• Astro Bot 

• Balatro 

• Black Myth: Wukong 

• Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree 

• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth 

• Metaphor: ReFantazio 

  
  

  

  Astro Bot marks 10 consecutive years of Sony delivering a Game Of The Year contender

More Gaming News

• The Witcher 4 has officially entered full-scale production 🐺

• Sony is reportedly working on a new PlayStation handheld 🕹

• Troy Baker is confirmed to return for Neil Druckmann’s next Naughty Dog game 🗣

• Arcane is officially over but more TV shows and video game spinoffs are planned 🎮

That’s all for this week. Hit the subscribe button if you enjoyed it 🤝

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