DEADLINE: It will confirm your good judgment. He played a tough police detective with a tortured past named Bud White who became this symbol of masculinity. After the film played through, for awhile every pitch in Hollywood was, “imagine Bud White, as a blank.“

The epic film "Gladiator" was one of the biggest box office hits of 2000 and is considered a classic in the filmography of British directing legend Ridley Scott alongside "Alien", "Blade Runner" and "Thelma & Louise".

Gladiator 2 stars reflected on working with Sir Ridley Scott as they walked the red carpet at the film’s London premiere on Wednesday, 13 November. The highly-anticipated second instalment of the 2000 film — which was originally fronted by Oscar-winner Russell Crowe as Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius — stars Paul Mescal as Lucius Verus who originally appeared in the first film as a child.

“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.”

History comes alive once again at the hands of Ridley Scott – but why didn’t the Gladiator 2 filming locations include actual Rome?