‘I think they got chicken’: Denzel Washington reveals his gay kiss scene was cut from ‘Gladiator II’
One of the stars of the eagerly-anticipated sequel Gladiator II revealed that one note-worthy scene didn’t make the final cut. Denzel Washington, who plays Macrinus, a former slave looking to seize control of Rome, recently shared that his character kissed another man in a quick scene, but audiences won’t get to see it.
“I actually kissed a man in the film,” Washington commented in an interview with Gayety, “but they cut it out. I think they got chicken.” The actor added, “I kissed the guy full on the lips and I guess they weren’t ready for that yet.” Washington clarified that the kiss wasn’t necessarily a romantic moment in the film. “I killed him about five minutes later,” he said of the character he kissed, joking, “the kiss of death.”
There was no shortage of Denzel Washington fans who were disappointed to hear the scene was left on the cutting room floor. “Aw just let men kiss, ya wimps,” one user commented in a Reddit thread.
Others implored director Ridley Scott to “RELEASE THE GAY CUT!!!”
Several pointed out that ancient cultures tended to be far more tolerant of homosexuality than many people are today. It’s not hard to picture conservatives taking issue with seeing a gay kiss in the movie, which is pretty ridiculous considering the historical context. “You def wouldn’t want anything gay in your checks notes Roman gladiator movie,” another Redditor joked.
Apparently, Washington’s wasn’t the only guy-on-guy kiss that was cut from the film. There was an improvised moment, where Paul Mescal kissed Pedro Pascal on the forehead during a fight, which won’t be in the movie either.
“There was a moment when we were rehearsing my fight scene with Pedro, and I had an idea towards the end of the scene to kiss Pedro on the forehead,” Mescal told Entertainment Weekly. The All of Us Strangers star revealed he went ahead with the kiss in one of the takes but got nervous when it came time to check in with Scott via walkie-talkie.
“I was like, ‘Ridley: Kiss on the forehead, did you like it? Yay or nay?’” Mescal recalled. “There was radio silence for a second. His radio crackles back, and [Ridley] goes, ‘I’m afraid I did.'” Despite Ridley being on board, the moment isn’t in the film. “I don’t know where it got lost in the edit,” Mescal noted in a different interview with Cinema Blend, “but I trust this man entirely, though. How he cuts his films.”
Scott has remained tight-lipped about why Pascal and Mescal’s kiss was cut. “I can’t remember … I can’t remember,” Scott commented, cryptically adding, “the director’s cut.”
Though audiences won’t see either of these exciting moments of sexual fluidity in theaters, Ridley Scott fans know that he’s all about the director’s cut. Studios can be very conservative and panicky about what film cuts get released in theaters, but less so when those same movies are released on DVD and streaming. Scott has often taken advantage of this, and the director’s cuts of some of his best films are far superior to their theatrical versions.
It’s a virtual certainty that a director’s cut of Gladiator II will be released at some point in time. But it could be a while before we see the queer-forward moments involving Washington and his co-stars.
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