Paul Mescal on Being ‘Biased’ About Gladiator II and His Old Sausages Ad

Paul Mescal has confessed he’s taken aback by the “hype” surrounding Gladiator II, but maintains it’s well-deserved.

The lad from Co Kildare takes on the role of Lucius Verus, son of Lucilla and nephew of Commodus, in the much-anticipated blockbuster, which is now set to hit screens on November 15, having been moved up from its original release date of November 22.

The 28-year-old Irish actor admitted he’s still pinching himself, saying it was never on his “bingo card”.

Chatting with Dave Moore on Today FM, he said: “I’ve said this many times, I feel incredibly proud to be Irish. Going from sausage ads to this wasn’t on the bingo card for me. Me and Andrew Scott both spoke about this, coming home to do the All Of Us Strangers premiere last year.”

“I think I’m absolutely biased, but I think we have the most extraordinary country. People who are deeply supportive of the artists that we have and we’re kind of as a country punching far above our weight in terms of the output and long may it continue and it should be supported because we’ve got immense talent for such a small country.”

“I definitely feel an overwhelming sense of support from people back home and I can’t wait to take the film there to be honest.” He said the hype around the movie is warranted.

“It’s new territory for me. It’s absolutely bananas but I’ve seen the trailer and the film, I think the hype is kind of warranted.”

The star conveyed: “I’m as big of a fan of the first film as the next person and I think it’s just indicative of the legacy that this film has. Ridley Scott directing a second one, for people who love film, it’s a no-brainer.”

The Normal People sensation revealed his anticipation about the sequel and said: “I think what they (audiences) should expect is that it picks the world of the first Gladiator up and plants it 20 years into the future.”

He continued: “It has the same energy and spirit of the first one but the character’s journey through the mad world that is Ancient Rome couldn’t be more different. It balances an honouring of the first film but is very much its own beast and it very much is a beast of a film.”

His castmate Pedro Pascal, aka Marcus Acacius, sent fans into frenzy when he shared a shirtless pic of Mescal behind the scenes.

In the image, Mescal can be seen cheerfully smiling, sporting a faux scar, slight beard and messy hair.

The picture was captioned by Pedro along with a poster for the film stating, “Come and get it. #Gladiator2 November 22.”

Mescal confirmed that his beard was “all natural”, explaining: “I grew out the beard for what felt like 10 years. Jana and Julianna who did hair and makeup on this were just next level. Lots of blood and dirt-covered sweaty men running around for two and half hours.”

Discussing the tough training for the role, Mescal revealed he gained a stone for the movie.

“I had to eat a lot! I put on about a stone, I had to lift a lot of heavy things and run around. I had a team of people around who were telling me to eat what when, run where, run how far, lift this heavy thing for X amount of times.”

“When you’re talking about films of this scale you have a team of experts around you who support your entire process, so it was kind of a dream come true. There was no stone left unturned.”

He also mentioned that his GAA background helped him secure the role as director Ridley Scott felt he was up to the challenge of bloody fight scenes.

“I’m well used to throwing myself around on a pitch and that was useful in the Colosseum of Ancient Rome for sure,” he added.

Source: Today FM