RIDLEY SCOTT’S GLADIATOR II is primed to be the biggest blockbuster film event of late 2024, and the more we learn about the sequel to the legendary director’s 2000 Best Picture-winning epic, the more excited we get. One thing that makes these sorts of movies so engaging is when you can see on the screen just how committed they were to the films and their parts within it, and it’s clear to see that Paul Mescal, who plays the movie’s lead as Lucius, put in tons of physical work and training to look the part.
In a new GQ cover story, Mescal revealed that he actually gained 18 pounds of muscle specifically for the role.
According to a breakout piece on the cover story, Mescal did the majority of his training for the film working with trainer Tim Blakely (who has worked with other stars, like John Boyega) while he was starring in the West End production of A Street Car Named Desire (he played Stanley Kowalski, the role famously played by Marlon Brando in the iconic 1951 film; Mescal won a Laurence Olivier Award for his work).
Mescal worked out six days a week for anywhere between 40 and 90 minutes at a time. But there was one aspect of training for Gladiator II that he didn’t particularly enjoy: maintaining the correct diet, which he said “was the worst bit.”
“That was the bit that I struggled with,” he said. “Just lots of protein. I don’t have a massive appetite, so trying to eat two massive fucking boxes of mince [ground beef] and sweet potato hash between a matinee and an evening show was not fun.”
It certainly seems to have paid off, though. The GQ story also revealed that in Gladiator II, Lucius is actually revealed to be the son of Maximus, Russell Crowe’s character from the original film; comparisons between the two actors and characters are sure to come. And while the jury is still out on the film itself, Mescal surely looks the part as a successor to Crowe’s lead.
