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.“

Initially wary of the technology, "Gladiator II" director Ridley Scott now says he sees the benefits of generative AI in filmmaking.

“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.”