Paul Mescal is receiving widespread acclaim for his performance in Gladiator II, but the question of whether he was the right person to anchor a long-awaited sequel was apparently not on director Ridley Scott’s mind. During a recent interview on The Graham Norton Show, Mescal revealed that he was cast in the blockbuster following a single Zoom call.
“Ridley does not waste time,” Mescal explained per Deadline. “I thought there would be camera tests and auditions, but we Zoomed for half an hour, spoke for 10 [minutes] about the part and then 20 minutes about Gaelic football, his dog and his wife.”
“I thought there would be more, but he called a few weeks later to offer me the part,” the Normal People actor continued. “I think he just goes by instinct, on set and off, and I’m very glad that’s the way it went.”
Following his role as one of the leads of Normal People, Mescal has experienced a rapid ascent to the height of movie stardom. He received an Oscar nomination for his performance in the widely acclaimed Aftersun and has also starred in several other acclaimed independent features.
Mescal co-stars in the Gladiator sequel with Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, and Connie Nielsen. He plays Lucius, the son of Russell Crowe’s character from the original film. The first wave of reactions to Gladiator II were overwhelmingly positive. With a little less than a month to go until the film’s release, the only question left is whether the movie will live up to the high standard set by its predecessor.
