Ridley Scott makes ambitious claim about ‘Gladiator 2’
Ahead of the pending release of the highly-anticipated movie, Gladiator 2, director Ridley Scott has ambitiously claimed it contains “the biggest action sequence” of his career.
In the blockbuster, which is set for release on November 15th, Irish actor Paul Mescal portrays Lucius, son of Lucius and Lucilla Verus. Connie Nielsen is set to return to her role from the 2000 film as Lucilla, and Mescal is also joined in the stellar ensemble by the likes of Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn and Derek Jacobi.
The decision to cast Mescal in the leading role was a straightforward choice for Scott, who previously admitted that the actor was “absolutely perfect” for Lucius. However, Gladiator 2 marks the first action movie of Mescal’s burgeoning career, and requires a different skillset to the ones he’s previously shown in Aftersun, Normal People, and All of us Strangers.
Nevertheless, Mescal was thrown into the deep end on Gladiator 2, but judging from Scott’s comments, he rose to the challenge.
During a new conversation with Empire, the director divulged, “We begin the film with probably the biggest action sequence I’ve ever done.” He added: “Probably bigger than anything in Napoleon.”
At this stage, there is still yet to be a snippet released from the opening scene which has been talked up by Scott, and the director is keeping his cards close to his chest regarding the specifics of the segment in question.
Furthermore, in the same interview, Scott detailed why technology is a necessary tool to aid the evolution of cinema, stating, “Computerisation and AI — you have to embrace it. I can have a computer read every molecule and wrinkle on a rhino and then cut it on a thick piece of plastic, absolutely as a rhino’s body, which is then tailored to a skeleton shape.”
Scott then explained the mechanics of one of the devices he used for the upcoming Gladiator movie, gleefully revealing, “I have this thing that can do 40 miles an hour, spin on the spot, wag its head and snarl A two-ton rhino with a guy on its back! I mean, it’s a lot of fun.”
While many directors become stuck in their ways once they turn a certain age, Scott remains open-minded and willing to integrate new technology into his filmmaking, which speaks volumes about his approach to the craft.
Meanwhile, Mescal recently recalled his first meeting with the director ahead of his casting, “We spoke for about 20 to 30 minutes. I wanted to get a flavor from him about what the story was going to be about, so we spent about 15 minutes talking about that, and then we spent another 10 minutes talking about the sport that I played growing up—Gaelic football. Maybe that was something that helped with it, in that I’m used to being physical in my body.”
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