Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Paul Mescal has a warning.
“If you think you’re gonna get, like, an introverted intellectual, this isn’t the film for you.” The Irish actor – internet favourite, proud wearer of short shorts, fan of leather kilts – is talking about Gladiator II , in which he plays Lucius, the lost prince of Rome, who is handy with a sword and can bite a baboon if required. But that’s what happens when you step into the world of director Ridley Scott and his brutal, bloodthirsty and highly entertaining vision for this year’s biggest blockbuster.
“I did not think I’d be fighting a baboon,” says Mescal. “I did not think that Ridley would be asking me to be in this film. Probably every single day on this set was something that I was never expecting to do in my career, full stop.
So to get to do it, it’s just like, f---ing insane.” Pedro Pascal (left), director Ridley Scott and Paul Mescal in Malta on the set of Gladiator II. Credit: Aidan Monaghan Insane is right.
Scott has not just delivered a swords and sandals epic that pays homage to the 2000 original, he’s thrown in bloody rhinos, a shark-infested Colosseum and a scenery-chewing Denzel Washington into the mix. “It just requires you to get the bit between your teeth and go for it,” says Mescal (to b.
