Russell Crowe wants to be paid for answering questions about ‘Gladiator 2’!

LOS ANGELES: Actor Russell Crowe doesn't want to be asked anything about 'Gladiator 2'. The actor said that he should be paid for the amount of questions he asked about a film he is not even in.

The actor was speaking to the media at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, reports Variety. He said: "It has nothing to do with me. In that world, I am dead. Six feet under. But I do admit to a certain tinge of jealousy, because it reminds me of when I was younger and what it meant for me, in my life."

The actor further mentioned, quoted by Variety: "I don't know anything about the cast, I don't know anything about the plot. I am dead! But I know that if Ridley has decided to do a second part of the story, over 20 years later, he must have had very strong reasons. I can't think of this movie being anything other than spectacular."

Crowe has been a colourful presence at the Czech fest, accepting an award for outstanding contribution to world cinema and treating its audience to multiple foul-mouthed anecdotes – even when performing with his band Indoor Garden Party at the opening ceremony.

Battling never-ending questions about beer, he also discussed his love for music and future projects as a director, including 'Last Breath' and unreleased documentaries. "In order to release them, I have to make them legally comfortable. And to me, that destroys the point. So I just have to wait longer, wait for some people to die, and then I can put them out," he teased.

Crowe, who will soon be seen in the likes of 'Kraven the Hunter', 'The Georgetown Project' and 'Nuremberg' – where he will play Hermann Goring, he said – also talked about Julius Avery's 'The Pope's Exorcist' in which his character uncovers a conspiracy the Vatican has tried to keep secret. He also mentioned the still-unresolved case of Emanuela Orlandi's disappearance.

"We were told, very specifically: 'Don't mention that.' So of course we f****** mentioned that. I am not saying it has to do with the movie, but I have heard about the Pope reopening a new investigation now to get to the bottom of it, as he should."

He also took time to introduce the special screening of Peter Weir's 'Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World', opening up about the director's painstaking attention to detail and the film's fate.

"Peter slowed down the release. We finished production before 'Pirates of the Caribbean' had started, but it got out before we did. Once people had a big laugh, it was difficult to get the general audience to take seriously whatever we were doing," he said.