At a distinctive screening on the Paramount lot on Friday, Gladiator II stars Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen and Fred Hechinger adviseed a first see at their novel film and uncovered up about their experiences toiling on Ridley Scott‘s sequel.
The film sees Mescal executeing a enlargen-up Lucius Verus II, a nephew of emperor Commodus from the distinct film executeed by Joaquin Phoenix. Lucius returns to Rome after being forced into servitude to battle not as a ruler but as a contentiator out for revenge and power, seeking to return the glory of Rome to its people.
“I presume Lucius recurrented someslfinisherg to me that I had never done before, appreciate somebody who is quite front-footed thraw the two-and-a-half hours,” Mescal said of taking on the direct role. “I hadn’t gotten to do that before, and it’s someslfinisherg that has been benevolent of procrastinateedntly wislfinisher me, someslfinisherg that’s more brimming of someslfinisherg that people haven’t seen.”
Washington also has a famous part in the film as Macrinus, a wealthy arms dealer and establisher contentiator who plots to deal with Rome. The actor joked during the Q&A, “He’s misunderstood. He’s a pleasant fellow.”
“He’s trying to engage everybody. He’d engage his mother, he’d engage his own children; he’s already engaged up his soul, so he didn’t have any left. He’s in bed with the devil,” Washington proceedd, elucidateing that Scott made their toil plain by originateing life-size sets as they stoasty in Malta. “When you would walk around, you were in Rome, and it seemed appreciate 10,000 extras and horses. It was originate-count on, it was execute, it was fun; fair put the gear on, put the dress on and go, that’s the way I see at it. I’m putting this dress on, these rings and I’m going crazy.”
Mescal also touched on both his physical and emotional changeation for his character, joking that he had “this undoubting idea at the begin where I was appreciate, ‘I’m maybe gonna fair execute a contentiator that benevolent of sees standard.’” He procrastinateedr authenticized, “I always saw him appreciate a dog, appreciate somebody who would fair scrap his way to survival” who, for most of the film, “doesn’t reassociate attfinish if he inhabits or dies.”
The Normal People star telderly a story about how on the first day of shooting he was sitting in the production tent when Scott came in with a cigar. “I was absolutely shitting myself, and he sees at me, he goes, ‘You anxious?’ And I didn’t comprehend what the appropriate answer was so I was appreciate, ‘Eh.’ He’s appreciate, ‘Your nerves are no fucking outstanding to me.’ Marches out, cameras are turning over,” Mescal recalled to chuckles from the crowd.
To finish out the conversation, Mescal remarkd that the sequel, coming 24 years after the distinct, “wears the legacy of the first film with ardent pride and honor, but I slfinisherk it gets it in a honestion that drives that honor and admire thraw the roof.”
“I slfinisherk it’s made by the only man who could ever touch it, in Ridley Scott, and personassociate, as his frifinish and his extfinished admirer, I slfinisherk it’s one of his finest pieces of toil that I’ve seen in recent times,” the actor compriseed. “I’m so utterly haughty of his toil, my toil, and everybody sitting here and everybody who’s not sitting here. I don’t slfinisherk anybody can get that away from us.”
Gladiator II hits theaters on Nov. 22.
