Five minutes with actors Paul Mescal and Fred Hechinger

When we say epic, we mean it. Gladiator II it is a remarkable feat of filmmaking. Director Ridley Scott built a set to imitate Rome in Malta, constructing an arena to imitate the Colosseum. His team created a life-size statue of Pedro Pascal on a horse. Eighty tents have been allocated for hair and makeup artists throughout Morocco. He actually built a playground for his actors.

His main character, Paul Mescal, stepped up for the role of Lucius. He’s still the sensitive and loving type we recognize from his roles in Normal people or After-tanbut how does he tell it Leaflet in this five-minute interview, the most challenging part of his role was inhabiting “a person who, psychologically, is not actually afraid of dying.”

Bye Gladiator IIThe battle scenes are brutal and bloody, with non-stop action, while the more intimate scenes are where the acting shines. Denzel Washington plays an ambitious Roman businessman (and we can already hear Oscar talk in the air). Pascal is General Acacius and the husband of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen, who you remember from the first film). And the twin emperors Caracalla and Geta are played in the film by Fred Hechinger (White Lotus) and Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things).

Leaflet spoke to Mescal and Hechinger while they were in Sydney to find out more about the making of the blockbuster and how they prepared for such demanding roles.

Hello Fred! Hello Paul! Gladiator II such an epic movie. You play very different characters. How would you describe your characters in three words?

Mescal: Faithful. Ruthless. Brave.

Hechinger: Delicious. Sick. Impulsive.

Is there a scene you wish you could relive because it was challenging or fun to film?

Mescal: This is my first time working with Denzel. I could go back to that scene and live there for 100 years. It was just one of those moments where you’re an actor, you never dream of having someone like that next to you, and having Ridley in charge of all this – I thought, “This is a wild, wild experience.”

Hechinger: Joe (Joseph Quinn) and I were doing a scene with Pedro (Pascal), and it was one of those days where the sun is about to set and this beautiful gold appears… It was such a feeling, it was like the feeling of that sunny day. I could live there too.

Ridley Scott builds a huge set to recreate Rome. What was it like to step into his arena?

Hechinger: It’s breathtaking. On my first day (of filming) I was walking up the stairs to the Colosseum and I was speechless. It’s truly built around you. I think you also realize all the gifts you’ve been given: Ridley controls the world he built. It means he really trusts the actors to play their characters and you don’t have to talk much about anything else because he’s built this world and these are the directions.

Mescal: I fully support that. This is an absolute gift. How is that super expensive present. The fact that he builds this whole world is that you don’t have to imagine that part – which is a huge part of an actor’s job to imagine. You’re really just being with the actors in front of you, and that’s your main goal.

Did the scale of the set increase the need for a sequel?

Mescal: Yes, in a matter of seconds. When you see the scale and amount of work that goes into making a Ridley Scott movie, it sure adds tension in a matter of seconds.

While watching the film, I made several notes: one was “running and screaming,” another was “much larger than the monkeys.” What was the hardest thing you had to do to prepare for the role?

Mescal: I think that to inhabit someone who is psychologically not actually afraid of dying is very far from everything that we are used to living with. And then, even though it’s a big epic action movie, you still find out the truth about what happened to Lucius. He loses his wife so early in the film and feels abandoned by his mother, and that’s always the part that interests me, but it’s also the hardest part of this character for me.

Hechinger: I really agree with that. Sometimes you think that training to do this or that will be a difficult task, but there is an objectivity or practicality in it: you squat down and learn to ride this horse or work with this animal – whatever it is. The things that are more annoying, and sometimes at the core of everything, seem insignificant at first glance. Raising a cup suddenly is strange.

Mescal: Or enter the room or something…

Hechinger: Yes, exactly. And I think it’s because the person you’re playing has a responsibility. You are the only person who will protect them and be there for them. All these little things add up and that’s what really matters. Sometimes you find fault with it, and I don’t think you can escape it. I believe that you need to be uncompromising on this issue.

You’ve had a hot minute in Sydney. Have you had the opportunity to enjoy your time here?

Hechinger: We swam!

Mescal: Yesterday we went to the beach.

Where did you swim?

Mescal: Coogee Beach.

Hechinger: We landed and immediately took off, it was incredible. I mean, any day in salt water is a blessed day.

Gladiator II in cinemas November 14th.