‘Gladiator II’: Why Paul Mescal Didn’t Reach Out to Russell Crowe (Exclusive)

Paul Mescal and Ridley Scott sat down with “Extra’s” special correspondent, “Good Day Chicago’s” Jake Hamilton, in London to talk “Gladiator II.” 

The epic story started with the 2000 film “Gladiator,” starring Russell Crowe as Maximus, a general set to inherit the Roman Empire when a corrupt emperor kills his family and has him sent into slavery. Maximus becomes a gladiator seeking revenge against the evil emperor.

Now, Paul Mescal stars as the late Maximus’ son Lucius, who is captured and sold into slavery himself and becomes a gladiator seeking revenge on the Roman army.

Paul opened up about his character, explaining his Lucius goes from “an individual to a reluctant leader.”

He continued, “When he puts on Maximus’ armor, you see him ready to jump into his bloodline… his legacy, and lead the gladiators around him.”

To prepare for the game-changing role, Paul decided not to reach out to Russell, who won an Oscar.

“Ultimately, I have to stand behind this entirely by myself,” he said. “There is no excuse. You can’t rely on anyone besides the script and the director and yourself.”

Ridley interjected, “I’ll add to that. Why would Roger Moore call up Sean Connery [for a Bond movie] … What’s he gonna do that for?”

Now, Mescal says, “What I would love to discuss with Russell is, like… trade war stories… We’ve gone through similar experiences with it.”

Paul is facing off with the scene-stealing Denzel Washington in the film. Washington plays arms dealer Macrinus, who owns a stable of gladiators.

He told Jake of Ridley, “I haven’t even seen the finished film, but from what I’m hearing, I get a feeling of what he did… I completely trust him.”

Scott also spoke about the original idea for a “Gladiator” sequel with Maximus in the underworld.

It was a script Ridley was working on with Nick Cave, and he explained it was difficult because Maximus was dead.

“The only way of bringing him back from the dead was bringing him back through a dying warrior… I said, ‘The only problem, Russell, is you look like the dying warrior, so it can’t be you.’ So it never really worked.”

Ridley was, however, able to use scenes he wrote about the River Styx in the new film.

“I kept ahold of Styx because I wrote Styx for that then, and then it didn’t apply, didn’t work, but it worked now,” he said.

Jake asked if this is the second of three films, and Scott told him, “This is chapter two of three, yeah. Who knows where it will go, because nothing is impossible. We end it on a question, and the question is a big question… Where’s he go next?”