Paul Mescal has revealed what helped him in preparing for his role in Gladiator 2.
The Irish actor appears as Lucius Verus, the now grown-up son of Lucilla and nephew of Commodus, who Connie Nielsen and Joaquin Phoenix played in the first film.
The 28-year-old confessed that playing Gaelic football growing up made him “used to being physical in my body.”
Speaking to Vanity Fair about how he landed the role, he confessed he and director Ridley Scott spoke over a Zoom call.
Paul admitted: “We spoke for about 20 to 30 minutes. I wanted to get a flavour from him about what the story was going to be about, so we spent about 15 minutes talking about that.”
“Then we spent another 10 minutes talking about the sport that I played growing up—Gaelic football.”
“Maybe that was something that helped with it, in that I’m used to being physical in my body,” he continued.
Paul donned a full suit of armour and leather kilt, looking very similar to his predecessor Russell – who will not appear in the sequel.
The Normal People star then went shirtless for a dramatic scene preparing for battle against a blood-soaked Pedro Pascal, 49.
Describing his character to Vanity Fair Paul said: “He’s a very, very good general, which can mean a very good killer.”
The Last Of Us’ Pedro plays Roman general Acacius, who trained as a gladiator beneath Russell’s character Maximum.
The actor said: “[Acacius] learned from the best, so of course this code of honour is ingrained into his training and into his existence.”
“But at the end of the day, he’s a different person. And that can’t change who he is.
Before teasing: “Maximus is Maximus, and that can’t be replicated. That just makes Acacius capable of different things.”
Gladiator 2, which will be released later this year, has a star-studded cast – including Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn and Connie Nielson.
Connie will reprise her role from the first film and play Lucius’ mother, while it’s been reported that Derek Jacobi will reprise his role as Gracchus.
Meanwhile, May Calamawy, Lior Raz, Peter Mensah and Matt Lucas are also rumoured cast members.
Speaking to Esquire UK last August, Paul admitted he was “stressed” about taking on such a big role.
“I can’t tell you how stressed I am talking about that film in particular because it’s definitely the biggest one I’ve done,” he confessed.
“I feel really excited but it’s difficult to get away from the legacy of the film a bit.
“I think it’s really well written and it pays homage to the first one, but it’s very much something that I think I can step into and make comfortably my own.”
