Denzel Washington has shared that a “full on” gay “kiss of death” he filmed for “Gladiator II” did not make the final cut. Washington, 69, plays Macrinus, a wealthy power player in Rome who owns a troop of gladiators, in Ridley Scott’s sequel to his 2000 sword-and-sandal epic.

Following two imposing historical epics (The Last Duel, Napoleon), the prolific 86-year-old auteur delves even further back in time for a sequel to his 2000 Best Picture winner. He comes up with a massive,

Rome teeters on the brink in Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II.” Its fall is said to be imminent. The dream it once symbolized is dead. The once high-minded ideals of the Roman Empire have deteriorated across a venal land now ruled by a pale-faced emperor.

Denzel Washington revealed in a video interview with Gayety that he kissed a man on the lips while filming “Gladiator II,” but the scene was cut out from the theatrical cut of the long-awaited sequel.

From the first moment its trailers arrived on the internet, it was pretty clear that Denzel Washington wasn’t bothering with restraint when it came to his performance in Ridley Scott’s blood-on-sand sequel Gladiator II.