Paul Mescal may have physically transformed to lead “Gladiator II,” but he’s pointing to co-star Pedro Pascal as the real “beast” in their on-screen battles.
Mescal told Empire that while he’d most likely be able to best Pascal in a fight IRL, the “Last of Us” actor has a few tricks up his sleeve.
“I think I’d win in a fight between me and Pedro, but he’s deceptive,” Mescal said. “Pedro is one of the funniest men that I know, but he could fuck shit up. Like, absolutely categorically. There’s a beast in there for sure.”
Pascal has also been talking up Mescal’s physicality to the press. He previously told Vanity Fair that going against Mescal’s muscle-bound character Lucius proved to be tough when it came to stunts.
“He got so strong. I would rather be thrown from a building than have to fight him again,” Pascal said. “To go up against somebody that fit and that talented and that much younger….It’s brutal, man. I call him Brick Wall Paul.”
Pascal added of the Ridley Scott-directed sequel, “Outside of Ridley being a total genius, Paul is a big reason as to why I would put my poor body through that experience.”
Mescal wanted to get as strong as possible to accurately portray what a warrior would look like, he said.
“I just wanted to be big and strong and look like somebody who can cause a bit of damage when shit hits the fan,” Mescal said. “I think also, sometimes, one could, in striving for that perfect look, end up looking more like an underwear model than a warrior.”
He continued, “Muscles start to grow, and that can be deemed aesthetic in certain capacities, but there is something about feeling strong in your body that elicits just a different feeling. You carry yourself differently. It has an impact on you psychologically in a way that is useful for the film.”
“Gladiator II” enters the theatrical arena on November 22, 2024.
