Ridley Scott Cast Paul Mescal in Gladiator II After Watching This Series

Paul Mescal is known for appearing in emotional, heartbreaking roles, and it was one of his earliest hits that led Ridley Scott to cast him in the upcoming Gladiator II. Mescal has had an amazing last few years, appearing in Charlotte Wells’ devastating Aftersun, and Andrew Haigh’s mind-bending and heart-tugging All of Us Strangers. But before appearing in those critically acclaimed movies, Mescal co-starred with Daisy Edgar-Jones in the miniseries Normal People, based on the novel by Sally Rooney.

Surprisingly, it was that role as an anxious young adult struggling with life and love in Ireland that helped Mescal become the new face of 2024’s biggest action movie. Speaking to Vanity Fair, director Ridley Scott revealed how he discovered Mescal’s acting talents. The director said that he’s always hunting for new talent whenever he’s watching a new movie or TV show. The BBC Three and Hulu adaptation of Sally Rooney’s best-selling novel is a far cry from the sword and sandals, blood-flowing spectacles of the Roman Colosseum, but Scott knew he’d found his leading man when watching the series. The director said:

“When I watch anything, I tend to be clocking who’s interesting. It’s just in my DNA. And so,
watching a TV show that’s not really my kind of TV show, almost four years ago, I said, ‘Who’s this guy?’
I met with him, and he said, ‘Of course, I’d love to do it.’ And that was it. We were away and running with the ball.
He was a special find. He was absolutely perfect
.”

Paul Mescal’s Love of Sport Helped Him Land the Role in Gladiator 2

Making the move from Mescal’s romantic, emotional roles to a major franchise meant that the actor had to transform his body to convincingly play a Roman gladiator. But physicality isn’t anything new for Mescal. Mescal added to Ridley Scott’s story of how he was cast, and revealed that his love of sport as a child and teenager helped him land the role of a violent warrior. The actor also revealed that he wasn’t required to camera test for the role, as Ridley Scott had already decided he was the actor for the role. Mescal said:

”
We spoke for about 20 to 30 minutes
. I wanted to get a flavor from him about what the story was going to be about, so we spent about 15 minutes talking about that, and then we spent another 10 minutes talking about the sport that I played growing up — Gaelic football.
Maybe that was something that helped with it, in that I’m used to being physical in my body
. My memory of it is that probably two or three weeks later, the offer came in.”

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Mescal gained so much muscle and strength for the role that his co-star, Pedro Pascal, bestowed him with a new nickname, “Brick Wall Paul.” Aided by his background in Gaelic Football — an Irish blend of soccer and rugby — Paul Mescal frightened Pascal during their fight scenes. Pascal explained:

That means it should be exhilarating to see. Check out our video report below on how early footage of Gladiator II has “blown away” studio executives, only increasing the immense hype surrounding this year’s sequel.