Paul Mescal didn’t contact Russell Crowe before taking on the lead role in the Gladiator sequel because he “wouldn’t know what to say.”
The Irish actor spoke to GQ magazine about his upcoming role in Gladiator II, which follows on from the Oscar-winning 2000 movie directed by Ridley Scott, starring Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix. Scott is also helming the sequel.
Mescal will be playing Lucius, the son of Crowe’s Maximus character from the original film. The Gladiator movies are set in Ancient Rome, with the sequel following Lucius, who is forced into slavery and must fight as a gladiator in the Colosseum, not only for his freedom, but to liberate the city from its tyrannical leaders.
Crowe’s performance in Gladiator was a seminal moment in his career and earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor. Mescal is aware his performance will be compared to Crowe’s, but he believes both of their careers are bigger than just one film.
“I think it’s also a mistake when people go, ‘This was Russell’s thing,’ ” Mescal told GQ. “Russell had proven himself time and time again. And he proved himself time and time again after Gladiator. An amazing career like Russell has had wasn’t built by just Gladiator.“
Newsweek contacted Mescal’s and Crowe’s representatives by email for comment.
The actor, who rose to fame in the TV series Normal People, also reflected on the pressure of leading a major Hollywood movie.
“I know Gladiator is by far and away the biggest thing I’ve done in terms of a public-facing responsibility, and the amount of people that are going to get to it,” he said. “But I think I’ve now built in personal infrastructure where I know the map of what I want to be as an actor. So it’s not the be-all and end-all.”
Gladiator II has a star-studded cast, including Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal and Stranger Things actor Joseph Quinn. Connie Nielsen is reprising her role as Lucilla, the mother of Lucius and Maximus’ lover.
Washington plays Macrinus, a former slave who becomes an arms dealer and manages a stable of gladiators. While Mandalorian star Pascal stars as Roman general Marcus Acacius, who trained under Maximus. Acacius will be seen at the helm of an army aiming to take over North Africa.
The movie will be released in theaters in the United States on November 22, which is one week after its premiere across the Atlantic in the United Kingdom.
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