Paul Mescal may have physically transformed to lead “Gladiator II,” but he’s pointing to co-star Pedro Pascal as the real “beast” in their on-screen battles. Mescal told Empire that while he’d most likely be able to best Pascal in a fight IRL, the “Last of Us” actor has a few tricks up his sleeve. “I think I’d win in a fight between me and Pedro, but he’s deceptive,” Mescal said.
“Pedro is one of the funniest men that I know, but he could fuck shit up. Like, absolutely categorically. There’s a beast in there for sure.
” Pascal has also been talking up Mescal’s physicality to the press. He previously told Vanity Fair that going against Mescal’s muscle-bound character Lucius proved to be tough when it came to stunts . “He got so strong.
I would rather be thrown from a building than have to fight him again,” Pascal said. “To go up against somebody that fit and that talented and that much younger..
.. It’s brutal, man.
I call him Brick Wall Paul .” Pascal added of the Ridley Scott-directed sequel, “Outside of Ridley being a total genius, Paul is a big reason as to why I would put my poor body through that experience.” Mescal wanted to get as strong as possible to accurately portray what a warrior would look like, he said.
“I just wanted to be big and strong and look like somebody who can cause a bit of damage when shit hits the fan,” Mescal said. “I think also, sometimes, one could, in striving for that perfect look, end up look.