May 6, 2009 11:46

Nick Cave's rejected script for 'Gladiator 2' unearthed

Russell Crowe asked him to write the sequel

A PDF of Nick Cave's rejected script for 'Gladiator 2' has been leaked on the internet.

Cave was originally asked to write the sequel to Ridley Scott's Oscar-winning movie by the director himself, along with the Oscar-winning star of the 2000 film Russell Crowe.

The duo allegedly thought that Cave would be able to come up with a suitable script that managed to deal with the fact that Crowe's character, Maximus, had been killed off at the end of the first film.

However, Cave's adaptation was eventually turned down for being too over the top, reports The Guardian.

In Cave's script, Maximus' character is reincarnated after a meeting with Roman gods in the afterlife. The script then has him reunite with his son, before being given the power to live forever, adapting to a number of new roles that see him fight - and survive - in World War II and the Vietnam war. In the final scene, set in the present day, the character is seen working in the Pentagon.

Speaking about the script to UGO.com, Scott admitted that he thought Cave had enjoyed the writing process.

He said: "Russell [Crowe] didn't want to let it go, obviously, because it worked very well. I mean, when I say 'worked very well', I don't refer to success. I mean, as a piece it works very well. Storytelling, he [Cave] works brilliantly. I think he enjoyed doing it, and I think it was one of those things that he thought 'Well, maybe there's a sequel where we can adjust the fantasy and bring him back from the dead'."