Posted in: Movies, Universal | Tagged: Gladiator 2, paul mescal, ridley scott, universal

Ridley Scott "Kept Thinking About" Paul Mescal As Gladiator 2 Came Up

Sir Ridley Scott watched Normal People and couldn't stop thinking about star Paul Mescal, so when it came time to cast Gladiator 2, Scott had already found his leading man.

There are so many stories of how directors find their leading actors and actresses, whether from a regular casting call or something completely random. It turns out that when it comes to Gladiator 2, Sir Ridley Scott did something a little different. Before the movie was greenlit, he watched Normal People and could not get star Paul Mescal out of his head. So, when it came time to cast Gladiator 2, Mescal was still in the back of Scott's head, as he explained to Total Film in a new interview.

"Can I see Paul Mescal being as big as Russell Crowe? For sure," Scott explains. "I watched Normal People. It's not my kind of show, but I saw four episodes in a row – boom, boom, boom. I was thinking, 'Who the hell is this Paul Mescal?' And then I watched the whole series. And then, suddenly, Gladiator 2 came up because the script was working pretty well. And I kept thinking about Paul. And that was it."

We don't blame Scott for looking into Mescal's dreamy eyes and failing to remember anything else for a while; whoever has seen All Of Us Strangers has said the same. Production on Gladiator 2 was delayed due to the ongoing strikes, but studios are gearing up to pay actors livable wages soon, so maybe things will get back off the ground soon. I'd say be worried that such a big movie is a little over a year away and not even finished with principal photography. Still, Scott shot Napoleon in half the time anyone else would have shot a film of that caliber, so I think everything will be fine.

Gladiator 2 Is A Sequel, But Don't Expect Any Russell Crowe

A follow-up to Gladiator is one of those movies where you're really unsure if this is a good idea, but it has been in varying stages of development since 2001. However, things fell apart in 2006, and it wasn't until over a decade later, in 2017, that things started to pick up again. It was officially greenlit in November 2018, and last year, it was announced that the script was complete. In January, we got word that Aftersun and Normal People star Paul Mescal was in talks to star. Ridley Scott is back to direct the film with a script by David Scarpa, returning costume designer Janty Yates, and production designer Arthur Max. Scott is set to produce along with Scott Free President Michael Pruss, as well as Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher via Red Wagon Entertainment. Since then, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Derek Jacobi, Joseph Quinn, Connie Nielsen, Fred Hechinge, May Calamawy, Lior Raz, Peter Mensah, and Matt Lucas have all joined the cast.

While we have a release date of November 22, 2024, we don't know if Gladiator 2 will be the title [it probably won't], and production started but was halted due to studios refusing to pay writers and actors livable wages.

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