Paul Mescal's star is born in the first look at Gladiator II
A new profile on Gladiator II reveals new plot details about Ridley Scott's sequel, premiering November 22
Remember in A Star Is Born how Lady Gaga’s character lamented that she was always told her nose was too big to make it in the music industry? Imagine the meme from that movie—Bradley Cooper saying “I just want to take another look at you”—except it’s Paul Mescal and Ridley Scott. “My nose just is kind of Roman,” Mescal states the obvious in a new Vanity Fair profile. “So it’s useful in this context. The nose that I absolutely hated when I was in secondary school—and used to get ribbed for—became very, very useful when Ridley needed somebody to be in Gladiator II.”
Scott knew his star had been born when he watched Normal People, and thought he was “absolutely perfect” for the role after speaking with the Irish actor via Zoom for 20 minutes. Vanity Fair has the first-look photos for Scott’s upcoming sequel, and yes, Mescal looks right at home in this movie’s Roman Empire: buff, handsome, and deadly. Mescal plays Lucius, the nephew of former Emperor Commodus as seen in the first Gladiator film. Per VF, His mother Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) sent him away to grow up in Numidia, where he begins his own family and resents his mother and the empire. When the Roman army (led by Pedro Pascal’s general Marcus Acacius) attacks, Lucius’ new home is destroyed and he’s captured and brought back to Rome to be a gladiator. The Rome he returns to is corrupt and cruel, led by two “sadistic” co-Emperors (Fred Hechinger and Joseph Quinn), and Lucius finds his mother is involved with the very general who just destroyed his way of life in Numidia.
Apparently, this is all parallel to Scott’s own time growing up in England during the Blitz and moving to Germany for his father’s job shortly after World War II. “I’m a war baby, so I was bombed every night and slept in an Anderson shelter. So, did I like the idea of who the Germans were? I did not,” the director explains to VF. “In 1947, I am 10, and I’m shipped to Germany to live in Hamburg and Frankfurt because my father is now very much into the forefront of rebuilding Germany with what they call the Marshall Plan,” Scott says. “Of course, I’m right there at the forefront right then. This is my education.”
Mescal describes what Gladiator II is about thusly: “What human beings will do to survive, but also what human beings will do to win. We see that in the arena, but also in the political struggle that’s going on outside of my character’s storyline, where you see there’s other characters striving and pulling for power. Where’s the space for humanity? Where’s the space for love, familial connection? And ultimately, will those things overcome this kind of greed and power? Those things are oftentimes directly in conflict with each other.” You can read the full profile here.