Why Paul Mescal didn’t want to watch ‘Gladiator’ before making sequel

LOS ANGELES —  Irish actor Paul Mescal made it a point to not watch ‘Gladiator’ before beginning work on the sequel.

Although he saw Sir Ridley Scott’s epic when it hit cinemas in 2000, the 28-year-old actor refused to revisit the movie until work on the movie wrapped, reports ‘Female First UK’.

However, once he did watch the film, Mescal admitted he felt the “pressure” of whether ‘Gladiator II’ would live up to the first flick, which saw Russell Crowe win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as enslaved General Maximus Decimus Meridius.

He told ‘Empire’ magazine, “Over New Year’s, we watched it with a group of my best friends down in Cork, and that’s when I was like, ‘Oh s***. The pressure’.”

As per ‘Female First UK’, despite feeling nervous, the ‘All of Us Strangers’ star is quietly confident the sequel will impress audiences when it hits theatres on November 15.

He said: “Whatever anxiety I had about living up to the first one, I now feel totally at ease. In fact, I’m confident. “I’m excited for people to see it rather than hoping we’re going to get away with it – that would be the worst-case scenario.”

The actor plays the gladiator Lucius – the grandson of Rome’s former emperor Marcus Aurelius and son of Lucilla in the film.

He said the movie is an emotionally taxing take on the classic “hero’s journey”.

He said: “I think the root of this is a hero’s journey and somebody who’s reticent and doesn’t know his place in the world. There’s a latent emotionality in the film, but the scale of performance (it required) couldn’t be what I’m used to – which is kind of more internal and inviting an audience in.”

Mescal stars with Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington and Joseph Quinn in ‘Gladiator II’ and the Irish actor heaped praise on Ridley Scott for teaching him invaluable lessons about filmmaking.