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

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.

Ridley Scott had to stop Joaquin Phoenix, from dropping out of 2000 epic "Gladiator," the director said in an interview published on Thursday.

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.“

Gladiator” director Ridley Scott recently told The New York Times that Russell Crowe said Joaquin Phoenix was being “terribly unprofessional” on set when Phoenix was getting cold feet and had to be convinced to stay on the movie.

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".

Who was sceptical about reviving "Gladiator" after many years? There was no shortage of such people. And words of admiration are multiplying just before the official premiere in theatres. Let's recall that when the first information emerged that Ridley Scott was going to film a new instalment of "Gladiator,

The clock is ticking until Gladiator II hits theaters, and the buzz around the sequel is getting louder. The new excitement that follows Ridley Scott's genre-shifting masterpiece Gladiator is also hyped by the release of its positive Rotten Tomatoes score.