Paul Mescal’s Gladiator sequel casting was not the battle that Twitter imagined
Paul Mescal will star as the grown-up Lucius in Ridley Scott's continuation of his 2000 blockbuster Gladiator
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Since his breakout role in Hulu’s Normal People, actor and former sausage salesmen Paul Mescal has kept himself pretty busy with project after project. He’s even decided to remain busy for the foreseeable future with a 20-year filming schedule, courtesy of Richard Linklater’s upcoming adaptation of Merrily We Go Around. Well, it looks like all that hard work was worth it, as Mescal revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that he didn’t need to face an arena of multiple auditions in snagging the lead role in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2.
Reported to be a highly coveted role for many young Hollywood actors at the time (except for Timothée Chalamet, whose manager refuted claims of him ever auditioning as he hasn’t done so “in more than 7 years”), Mescal said that he only had one meeting with Scott in which they “discussed the parameter of the story.”
“Then, after the fact, I was given a script,” Mescal tells The Hollywood Reporter about the meeting. “And I’m so proud I get to make it. It’s an intimidating feat. It’s something I’m nervous about but something I feel like I can do.”
With an Oscar nomination already under his belt for Aftersun, Mescal seems more than ready to take on a major blockbuster film. In the sequel, the story will follow Mescal as an adult Lucius, who appears in the original film as the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielson) and the nephew of the sinister Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). Though, it’s not a tough hunch in guessing something must have gone horribly wrong for Lucius and his well-off Roman family, sending him to fight to the death in a coliseum for thousands.
Before we get see Mescal face off in the arena for Gladiator 2, the actor will next be seen in a modern re-imagining of the musical Carmen, starring beside Scream VI’s Melissa Barrera.
12 Comments
Wait what’s this to do with twitter?Anyway, use the Nick Cave script, Ridley you coward.
That script is bonkers and I want to see it opening night.
I don’t understand why they didn’t just give it to Spencer Treat Clark. He’s grown now and is still an actor — he was in the Twin Peak’s reboot a few years ago.
No, he’s wasn’t. But I wouldn’t mind an excuse to rewatch it… I think that’s my favorite TV of the past 20 years.
He was in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, and he was good in it, so I’m glad I’ve got an excuse to rewatch *that* now.
They brought him back for Glass, which was cool, but he’s not a name or an up and comer like Mescal. It’s fairly obvious why they’d opt to recast.
Agree – he’s also completely recognizable despite being 20 years older.
It’s because Paul Mescal is a lot more popular and thought of more highly.
“Merrily We Go Around”? Oy.
Oooof. I wonder if Mescal in-between shooting that can do a different film version of “Saturday On The Grounds With Geoff”.
Why is the word ‘Twitter’ in the headline – but no context for this in the article at all?
A Paragraph or two removed from the story?
I can’t wait for Gladiator X-in space!