Only IN Hollywood: Paul Mescal on why he likens his ‘Gladiator 2’ part to a dog 

(WARNING: Some spoilers ahead.)

LOS ANGELES – “I had this naïve idea at the start where I was like, I’m maybe going to play a gladiator that looks normal,” Paul Mescal revealed his initial approach to playing Lucius in Ridley Scott’s sequel, Gladiator II.

“I don’t think that’s going to cut it because… I always saw him (Lucius) like a dog, like somebody who would just scrap his way to survival.” Fortunately for Ridley and his follow-up to his 2002 Oscar and Golden Globe best picture winner, Paul is indeed a fierce, commanding lead in Gladiator II, an epic that stands on its own.

It’s a Shakespearean tale of power and revenge on a grand scale, served with a visual spectacle (the Colosseum filled with water for a naval battle is unforgettable, for one).

Playing Lucius who turns out to be the son of Maximus (Russell Crowe), the protagonist in the original, Paul is ferocious, not a “normal” gladiator. He gained 18 pounds of muscle. In Gladiator II, an action star is born in Paul without losing his emotional brilliance, which earned him praise in indie films.

Pedro Pascal (Acacius), Denzel Washington (Macrinus), Connie Nielsen (Lucilla), Fred Hechinger (Emperor Caracalla), and Joseph Quinn (Emperor Geta) add to the intensity of this Roman political drama that also takes you front and center to the bloody gladiator battles at the Colosseum.

Back to the point that Paul was making in the Q and A following the first screening of Gladiator II, held at the Paramount Pictures lot: “If you’re going to play something, when you read the script, you go, in reality, how would this person survive?”

“The reason that he survives isn’t because he’s strong or any of those things. It’s because he doesn’t care if he lives or dies until the final scene with Denzel and there’s something bigger to live for.”

“But then, when you unpack that you’re dealing with somebody who’s incredibly depressed and morbid, that lends a certain chaos to a character which is a tricky thing to get your psychology around. Because if you unpack it, it runs much deeper than you think.”

“I was absolutely shitting myself,” the Irish actor admitted how he felt on the first day of shooting the opening sequence, a huge war battle.

He recalled, “We traveled to Malta a week early basically. The first day on set, it was me and Pedro and we were consciously kept in the tents outside of the city walls.”

“We were sitting in the tent and I was smoking a cigarette. We were marching around the place. Ridley comes in with a cigar and we’re all just sitting there.”

“He looks at me and he goes, ‘You nervous?’ and I didn’t know what the appropriate answer was so I was like, ‘Eh.’  He’s like, ‘Your nerves are no fucking good to me.’ ”

“So, he marches us out as cameras are turning over and my game on set was like try and spot the cameras. Then just as the cameras are turning over, the blessing of the troops was the first scene that we shot. That’s what we walked into.”

“That’s part of Ridley’s genius where he’s like, ‘We’re on this ride together. Let’s not waste any time because time is precious.’ And Ridley uses time like a genius. So that was a real blessing from him.”

Asked how many days it took to film that epic opening sequence, the 28-year-old answered, “Whatever day I say it will probably like knock five off with Ridley. I think we shot that opening sequence over nine shooting days. I don’t know any other director who could do that.”

Paul was asked about vengeance, one of the themes of the film which reveals that Lucius, as a young boy, witnessed the death of hero Maximus at the hands of his uncle.

Years later, after his wife was killed and his home, Numidia, was vanquished by the armies of the tyrannical twin Emperors, Lucius returns to Rome as one of the gladiator slaves. He is filled with rage, further fueled by his mistaken belief that his mother, Lucilla, deserted him.

“Vengeance is interesting for a period of the film but once that has a runway, you run out very quickly,” Paul replied. “Vengeance is a symptom of the life that he (Lucius) led. He feels somewhat deserted by his mother (Lucilla) but he’s incorrect about that.”

“But at that moment through the film, that’s what’s driving a lot of it. Lucius is very intelligent. When you have vengeance matched with somebody (intelligent), you’ve got an interesting outline for a hero at the center of a story.”

On how Gladiator II honors the legacy of the original film, Paul said, “This film wears the legacy of the first film with intense pride and honor. But it takes it in a direction that drives that honor and respect through the roof.”

“It’s made by the only man who could ever touch it and that is Ridley Scott. Personally, as his friend and his long admirer, I think it’s one of his finest pieces of work that I’ve seen in recent times.”

“I’m so utterly proud of his work, my work, and everybody sitting here, everybody who’s not sitting here. I don’t think anybody can take that away from us now.”

Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington, who participated in the Q and A with Paul, Connie, and Fred, also praised their filmmaker. “What Ridley did, which was great, is he built Rome,” he said. “So, all we had to do was put the clothes on and start talking. No, I’m serious. He built Rome.”

“When you would walk around, you were in Rome and it seemed like 10,000 extras and horses. It was make-believe, it was play. It was fun to put the gear on, put the dress on and go.”

“That’s the way I looked at it. I’m putting this dress on, these rings and I’m going crazy.”

Of course, it’s Denzel putting the costume and rings on, so he adds gravitas to Macrinus. With his eyes alone, the actor persuasively conveys the essence of the wealthy arms dealer who stealthily plans to wrest power from the Emperors.

“If it ain’t on the page, it ain’t on the stage,” the Oscar and Golden Globe winner answered when asked what he added to his Machiavellian character who was a former slave. He credited the script (by David Scarpa, Peter Craig, and David Franzoni). “It starts with the words.”

“You had the words, the great actors, the environment, the swords, the horses, you had it all. You had everything at your disposal and the most brilliant director.”

He continued to commend the filmmaker when asked what he wanted to explore with the Macrinus role. “It’s Ridley, it’s Gladiator, it’s yes.”

Still on Macrinus, he added, “He’s misunderstood.” He playfully quipped, “He’s a nice fellow. He’s a product of his environment.”

Denzel added, “He’s trying to use everybody. He uses his mother. He uses his own children. He’s already used up his soul so he didn’t have any left. He’s in bed with the devil.”

Connie Nielsen

Connie, being the only actor reprising her role from the original, talked about her experience working on the original and the sequel:

“Back in the day, it was Joaquin (Phoenix) who had this line which was, we were about to do the Roman Empire with the guy who’d done Blade Runner and that he would do for the Roman Empire what Ridley with Blade Runner for the futurism.”

“And to me when we went in there, I could see how Ridley was creating these textures, whether they are textures of acting or textures of the actual environment that he puts you in and that he creates around you. These textures feel very visceral when you’re on set and it was the same this time around.”

“This time around, what would have taken three hours to set up 25 years ago now takes 20 minutes, despite the fact that you’re talking 3,000 extras, enormous vehicles, and insane setups. We could not believe how fast we were moving and that is because Ridley also loves technology.”

“He’s always interested in the latest technology. There were things that I know that he wanted to do in Gladiator I that he simply did not have the technology for yet and yet he was using cutting-edge technology to make up for the fact that we lost Oliver Reed halfway through the shoot.”

“Ridley wanted to honor Oliver Reed’s character and he wasn’t going to cut him out. He was going to try to save and salvage that incredible performance.”

“One of the things I talked to our younger actors about was Ridley allows you to be free and it’s the same now as it was 25 years ago. He knows the sound he wants to hear.”

“But that doesn’t mean that he’s not going to let you try everything. But he knows where he wants you to hit. It’s a fantastic experience as an actor.

Asked about working with Denzel and Pedro, the Danish actress replied, “First of all, that man (Pedro) carries boatloads of charm in trails behind him. You notice this energy arrive on set. It’s the same as when you (to Denzel) were walking on set.”

“When Denzel was walking on the set, it was like the curtains were still moving after he passed through them. I’m not kidding, It’s true.”

“With Pedro, there’s something so gentle about him that touches you right away. You feel so loved when you’re with him, you feel so safe.”

“And then he’s a little naughty, which is fantastic. He does this little play in the game, inside of a game, which is really fun. In the beginning, it was supposed to be this sort of he comes home from work and are you hungry dear kind of scene.”

“Instead, it became a scene where it’s like you have to win me over before you come close. And it was little things that we didn’t speak about but that just happened.”

On her Lucilla character as an icon that the twin emperors mine to keep their regime, and who realizes that the gladiator fighting intensely in the Colosseum is her son, Connie explained, “She is situated in this whole idea of Marcus Acacius and when she interacts with Lucius, it is about how is she going to bring this heritage and bring that heritage to Lucius.”

“She’s lost valuable time as a parent to do precisely that imprinting of those values on and that culture, thinking, sense of respect for what power is and how it should be wielded. And what she finds is a person who has somehow learned it already by himself.”

Fred Hechinger

As the spoiled, corrupt twin rulers, Fred (Emperor Caracalla) and Joseph Quinn (Emperor Geta) seem synchronized in their body movements although sometimes they differ in their stance.

“I feel like Joseph and I were like an old vaudevillian couple preparing,” Fred quipped. “We’d gather every night and go over the week’s work.”

“We were well aware that this was in some ways, a double act and then in other key ways, very competitive charged opposites as well. I know Joseph wishes he could be here today too and sends his love.”

“It was so fun to build the history with him and work on it collectively and then also know that that we had our secrets and we had our independence together, too. There were key sequences and moments that I felt were choreographed; like we were a couple just traveling around the country doing our dances together.”

On the emperors’ look—red hair, pale face with rouge, and clothes—that reflect their obnoxiousness, with a pet monkey to complete their act, the New York native commented, “Weeks and weeks of dialing in that level of excess. I think of him (Caracalla) as a rotting gold so it’s every glitz and glamour but there’s true sickness in that. Janty (Yates) is a brilliant costume designer.”

“It was so fun to build this day by day. Even the hair was something that we were working on.”

“The precise shade of that red so that it feels fun and bombastic but also believable and grounded in something twisted and menacing at the same time.”

“So yeah, it was a gradual process. But some aspects came ready to go like the monkey was ready to go. I didn’t have to spend as long finding her. She was amazing from the from the outset.” – Rappler.com