"Gladiator" director Ridley Scott recently told The New York Times (via Entertainment Weekly) that Russell Crowe told Joaquin Phoenix he was being "terribly unprofessional" on set when Phoenix was getting cold feet and had to be convinced to stay on the movie.

Gladiator' was a "baptism of fire for both of us in the beginning," Ridley Scott said of how he and Joaquin Phoenix approached making the 2000 filmAccording to director Ridley Scott, Joaquin Phoenix nearly dropped out of 2000's Gladiator.

“I’ve lit the fuse,” Scott said. “The ending of ‘Gladiator II’ is reminiscent of ‘The Godfather,’ with Michael Corleone finding himself with a job he didn’t want, and wondering, ‘Now, Father, what do I do?‘ So the next [film] will be about a man who doesn’t want to be where he is.”

Nearly 25 years later, 'Gladiator' director Ridley Scott revealed that Joaquin Phoenix almost backed out of his Oscar-nominated role.

Joaquin Phoenix tried quitting “Gladiator” mid-shoot before being persuaded to stay by Ridley Scott, the director said in an interview published Thursday. Ahead of the film’s sequel, “Gladiator II,” Scott told the New York Times that Phoenix ...

As he said he was planning to quit the project, Joaquin Phoenix was told he was being “unprofessional” by Russell Crowe on the set of ‘Gladiator’.

Scott addressed the topic in a new interview with The New York Times, in which he was actually discussing Barry Keoghan, who had to drop out of Gladiator II. “Barry is one of the good ones, the same level as Joaquin Phoenix and Paul.

After that, James McAvoy claimed that he was only cast in M Night Shyamalan’s 2016 thriller Split as Phoenix had quit the role weeks before the film was scheduled to begin production. It turns out Phoenix was also on the cusp of quitting Gladiator also,