'Gladiator' is an all-time great film, and it's baffling that anybody wouldn't have wanted a part in it - especially if it was the lead role! Russell Crowe gave a career-defining performance as the movie's leading man, but Mel Gibson was given the first refusal on the part - and decided that 'refusal' was the path he wanted to go down. We're not sure what his reasoning was, but we don't buy into what he said at the time.
In rejecting 'Gladiator,' Gibson said that he was simply too old to be an action movie star anymore. That argument might have held more weight if he hadn't played the lead role in 'Braveheart' just a couple of years earlier. He'd also go back to action roles a few years down the line. Why didn't he do 'Gladiator?' Who knows - but we're confident that he now wishes he had done!