Denzel's Gay-Kiss Story Is Fizzling

UPDATE Nov 19, 2024 1:36 PM CST

Denzel Washington's assertion that filmmakers cut his gay kiss out of Gladiator II seems to have been overstated. "No, that's bulls---," director Ridley Scott tells Variety of the claim. "They never did. They acted the moment—it didn't happen." And the actor himself is now saying the flap is "much ado about nothing," describing a kiss he gives to a character he soon kills as a mere "peck." The AV Club connect the dots: "Perhaps we can interpret these comments together to mean that there was no 'gay kiss' in the script; that Washington 'acted the moment' and improvised a 'peck' in a take that simply didn't get used, but that a gay kiss getting cut out of homophobic cowardice 'didn't happen.'"

Nov 15, 2024 2:45 AM CST

Denzel Washington says he filmed a notable moment for Gladiator II, out next week, that didn't end up in the final version of the movie. "I actually kissed the man in the film, but they took it, they cut it. I think they got chicken," said Washington in an interview with Gayety that was just picked up by NBC News. "I kissed a guy full on the lips, and I guess they weren't ready for that yet." The actor, who plays a Roman businessman in the sequel to the iconic 2000 Gladiator, added, "I killed him about five minutes later. It's Gladiator. It's the kiss of death."

His co-star Paul Mescal almost managed to sneak a same-sex kiss into the film, albeit not on the lips. "There was a moment when we were rehearsing my fight scene with Pedro [Pascal], and I had an idea towards the end of the scene to kiss Pedro on the forehead," he says. "I did it in one of the takes, and then we're getting the radio messages back to [director] Ridley [Scott] and I was like, 'Ridley: Kiss on the forehead, did you like it? Yea or nay?' There was radio silence for a second. His radio crackles back and goes 'I'm afraid I did.'" The kiss ultimately didn't end up in the final version of the film, but Scott has said it could show up in the director's cut, CinemaBlend reports. (More Denzel Washington stories.)