Denzel Washington kissed a man on the lips in Gladiator II, but it was cut from the movie.
The 69-year-old actor plays Rome powerbroker Macrinus — whose past relationships with men are mentioned in the script — but Washington thinks the movie’s bosses “got chicken” about including the “kiss of death” moment in the finished motion picture.
He told Gayety: “I actually kissed a man in the film but they took it out, they cut it, I think they got chicken.
“I kissed a guy full on the lips and I guess they weren’t ready for that yet.
“I killed him about five minutes later. It’s ‘Gladiator.’ It’s the kiss of death.”
Washington attended the movie’s world premiere in London on the evening of Nov. 13 alongside co-stars Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal, and several other star-studded attendees, including King Charles.
Charles arrived at the event in his state Bentley limousine, and he posed for photographers on the red carpet.
Ahead of the movie’s release on Friday, Nov. 15, Washington recently teased fans they can expect a “ridiculously big” and “epic” motion picture.
He told Variety: “[It’s] huge! Ridiculously big!”
When asked whether his co-stars Mescal and Pascal are “good” in the film, the actor replied: “Not good. Great. Both of them. It’s a hard act to follow, and Paul pulled it off. He’s his own gladiator.
“I didn’t have to do anything but this [sips water with his little finger up]. That was my job. Just twirl the glass, twirl the goblet, and hold whatever I had in my other hand.
“And make sure I don’t step on my gown.”
