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Paul Mescal and Ridley Scott sat down with Extra correspondent and Good Day Chicago’s Jake Hamilton in London to talk about Gladiator II.
This epic story began with the 2000 film Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe as Maximus. Maximus is a general who ends up inheriting the Roman Empire after his family is murdered and sent into slavery by a corrupt emperor. Maximus becomes a gladiator seeking revenge against the evil Emperor.
This time, Paul Mescal plays Lucius, the son of the deceased Maximus, who is himself captured and sold into slavery, and becomes a gladiator seeking revenge against the Roman army.
Paul opened up about his personality, explaining that Lucius “went from being an individual to being a reluctant leader.”
He continued, “When he puts on the Maximus armor, you see him ready to dive into his lineage, his heritage, and lead the gladiators around him.”
Paul decided not to contact Oscar-winning Russell in preparation for the game-changing role.
“At the end of the day, I have to support this completely alone,” he said. “There are no excuses. I can’t rely on anyone but the script, the director, and myself.”
Ridley interjected. Why did Roger Moore call Sean Connery? [for a Bond movie] …Why would you do that? ”
Well, mezcal says this. “What I would like to talk to Russell about is, for example, about trade wars…We have had similar experiences with trade wars.”
Paul is seen opposite Denzel Washington, who steals scenes in the movie. Washington plays Macrinus, an arms dealer who owns a stable of gladiators.
He told Ridley’s Jake, “I haven’t even seen the finished film, but from what I’ve heard, I know what he did…I trust him completely.”
Scott also talked about his original idea for a sequel to Gladiator, which would center on the underworld Maximus.
This was a script that Ridley was working on with Nick Cave, which he explained was difficult because Maximus died.
“The only way to bring him back from the dead was to bring him back through a dying warrior…I said, ‘The only problem, Russell, is that you look like a dying warrior. So it can’t be you.’ So it didn’t really work out.”
However, Ridley was able to use the scene he wrote about the River Styx in the new film.
“I stuck with Styx because that’s what I wrote Styx for back then. Then it didn’t apply and didn’t work, but now it does,” he said.
When Jake asked if this was the second of three movies, Scott replied, “It’s the second part of the three, yeah.” Nobody knows where it will go because nothing is impossible. We end it with a question, and that question is the big one…where does he go next? ”
“Gladiator II” will be released on November 22nd.
