It’s been more than two decades since Gladiator fans entered the cinematic coliseum directed by Ridley Scott and now we are getting an official look at the director’s new story in the same universe.
On Monday, Vanity Fair shared several images from Scott’s highly anticipated film Gladiator IIwhich welcomes a number of famous faces including Paul Mescal, Peter Pascal, Denzel WashingtonConnie Nielsen, Jose QuinnFred Hechinger and more.
Gladiator II stars Mescal as Lucius Verus, the nephew of former Emperor Commodus, the parricidal traitor-turned-emperor played by Joaquin Phoenix in the first movie. For Vanity Fairhis mother, Lucilla (Nielsen), sent him to grow up in Numidia, a region on the north coast of Africa, where he starts his own family and resents his mother and the empire.
When the Roman army (led by Pascal’s general Marcus Acacius) attacks, Lucius’s new home is destroyed and he is captured and brought back to Rome to be a gladiator. The Rome he returns to is corrupt and cruel, led by two “sadistic” co-emperors (Hechinger and Quinn), and Lucius discovers that his mother is involved with the very general who just destroyed his way of life in Numidia.
Washington plays a former slave turned wealthy arms dealer named Macrinus, Derek Jacobi as Senator Gracchus, Tim McInnerny as Thraex, and Alexander Karim as Ravi, alongside Lior Raz, Peter Mensah, Matt Lucas, May Calamawy, and others.
Pascal’s general is said to have been trained as a junior officer under Russell Crowe – King of the MonstersMaximus, the role that earned Crowe the Oscar for Best Actor in 2001.
At the end of the first GladiatorMaximus succumbs to the injuries he sustained while leading a violent attempt to overthrow Commodus, meaning Crowe’s character won’t be able to return for the sequel. But that doesn’t mean he’ll be forgotten in the sequel.
“This film has an identity that is shaped by its legacy. It wouldn’t make sense for it not to,” Pascal says. Vanity Fair. The actor described Acacius as a fighter who “learned from the best, so of course that code of honor is ingrained in his training and his existence. But at the end of the day, he’s a different person. And that can’t change who he is. Maximus is Maximus, and that can’t be replicated. It just makes Acacius capable of different things.”
When asked about his perspective on what the film is about, Mescal says Vanity Fair: “What will human beings do to survive, but also what will human beings do to win. We see that in the arena, but also in the political struggle that’s going on outside of my character’s storyline, where you see that there are other characters fighting and pulling for power. Where is the room for humanity? Where is the room for love, family connection? And ultimately, will those things overcome this kind of greed and power? Those things are often in direct conflict with each other.”
It’s a notably different tone from the project Scott watched that drew him to Mescal for the role of Lucius — the Hulu limited series, Normal people.
“When I watch anything, I tend to notice who’s interesting. It’s in my DNA. And then watching a TV show that’s not really my kind of TV show almost four years ago, I said, ‘Who is this guy?'” Scott says of Mescal catching his eye in the adaptation of Sally Rooney’s 2018 bestselling book.
Scott recalls scheduling a Zoom call with Mescal while the latter was performing A Streetcar Named Desire in London: “I met with him and he said, ‘Sure, I’d love to do it.’ And that was it. We were off and running with the ball. He was a special find. He was absolutely perfect.”
Mescal adds that the conversation lasted “about 20 to 30 minutes.”
“I wanted to get a sense of what the story was going to be, so we spent about 15 minutes talking about that, and then we spent another 10 minutes talking about the sport I played as a kid — Gaelic football. Maybe that helped because I’m used to being physical with my body,” he shares, adding that Scott later decided he didn’t need to do a camera test. “My recollection of it is that probably two or three weeks later, the offer came in.”
Crowe will apparently remain an unseen figure in the sequel following his character’s death in the first film. Earlier this month, the 60-year-old actor Oscar winner speaks candidly about his complicated feelings regarding the Gladiator sequence during an appearance in O Kyle Meredith with… podcast.
“I reflect on how old I was when I made that movie and all the things that came after it and the doors that that particular movie opened for me,” he said, sharing his thoughts on the sequel.
“There’s definitely a touch — and I’m being completely honest — a touch of melancholy, a touch of jealousy,” he admitted, adding with a laugh, “because I remember when I had tendons.”
“I’m a little uncomfortable, the fact that they’re doing another one, you know? Because, of course, I’m dead, and I have no say in what gets done,” he added. “But some of the things I’ve heard, I’m like, ‘No, no, no, no, no. That’s not in this particular character’s moral journey.’ But, you know, I can’t say anything. It’s not my place. I’m six feet under. So we’ll see how it goes.”
Gladiator II is scheduled to open in theaters on November 22.
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