Ridley Scott says Paul Mescal was “absolutely perfect” for ‘Gladiator 2’
Ahead of its release later this year, director Ridley Scott has discussed his highly-anticipated sequel, Gladiator 2, and explained why Paul Mescal was an “absolutely perfect” fit for the movie.
In the film, which is set for release on November 15th, the Irish actor portrays Lucius, son of Maximus’ love Lucilla, with Connie Nielsen returning to her role from the 2000 film. Meanwhile, Mescal is joined in the stellar ensemble alongside the likes of Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn and Derek Jacobi.
It’s been almost a quarter of a century since Scott delivered the first Gladiator movie, which won a staggering five Academy Awards, including ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Visual Effects’. Furthermore, the film’s starring man Russell Crowe earned an Oscar for ‘Best Actor’.
While Crowe won’t be involved in Gladiator 2 for obvious reasons, Mescal will instead be leading the cast in the forthcoming movie, and Scott has now revealed that he was determined to land the Aftersun actor after first seeing him in Normal People.
“When I watch anything, I tend to be clocking who’s interesting,” the legendary director said in a new interview with Vanity Fair. “It’s just in my DNA. And so, watching a TV show that’s not really my kind of TV show almost four years ago, I said, ‘Who’s this guy?’,” Scott added.
As he’s one of the most notable directors on the planet, the opportunity to talk directly to Mescal was afforded to Scott with relative ease. At the time, Mescal was starring in the West End play, A Streetcar Named Desire, when he first conversed with Scott over Zoom, and they quickly agreed to Gladiator 2.
Scott explained: “I met with him and he said, ‘Of course, I’d love to do it.’ And that was it. We were away and running with the ball. He was a special find. He was absolutely perfect.”
Meanwhile, in the same piece, Mescal shared his version of events, recalling, “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.”
Mescal wasn’t even asked to do a camera test and it was a relatively quick turnaround after their first conversation, adding, “My memory of it is that probably two or three weeks later, the offer came in.”
Additionally, Crowe recently admitted to feeling “slightly uncomfortable” about the project which doesn’t feature him. However, he knows it’s not his place to decide the story arc for the upcoming movie as his character has been and gone.
The Australian told Kyle Meredith: “Of course, I’m dead, and I have no say in what gets done. But a couple of the things I’ve heard I’m like, ‘No, no, no, that’s not in the moral journey of that particular character’. But I can’t say anything, it’s not my place, I’m six foot under. So we’ll see what that is like.”
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.