Gladiator 2 director Ridley Scott knows the importance of going big or going home — and he opted to go bigger than ever when filming action scenes for the long-awaited sequel.
“We begin the film with probably the biggest action sequence I’ve ever done,” Scott, 86, revealed in an interview for Empire’s September issue, adding that the scenes were “probably bigger than anything in Napoleon.”
With action-packed movies including Alien: Covenant, Blade Runner 2049 and Napoleon among Scott’s past credits, Scott’s disclosure sets the bar high for Gladiator fans.
Fans have been patiently awaiting Gladiator 2’s release since Scott, who directed the Oscar-winning original, announced plans for a follow-up in 2003. The project was put on pause in 2006 before being officially greenlit 12 years later.
Technology has changed at a rapid pace in the two decades after Russell Crowe, as the Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius, first uttered the iconic line “Are you not entertained?” Scott isn’t shying away from these changes. In fact, he’s leaning into the advancements to make action scenes more creative and elaborate than ever.
“Computerization and AI — you have to embrace it,” he told the magazine. “I can have a computer read every molecule and wrinkle on a rhino and then cut it on a thick piece of plastic, absolutely as a rhino’s body, which is then tailored to a skeleton shape.”
This technology means that the sequel’s star, Paul Mescal, will face off against the aforementioned computerized rhino.
“I have this thing that can do 40 miles an hour, spin on the spot, wag its head and snarl,” Scott said, adding, “A two-ton rhino with a guy on its back! I mean, it’s a lot of fun.”
While Joaquin Phoenix and Oliver Reed joined Crowe in the cast circa 2000, Mescal will take on the leading role in Gladiator 2 with Pedro Pascal and Joseph Quinn also on the roster. Mescal will play Lucious, the former heir of the Roman Empire, who becomes a gladiator after his home is invaded by the Roman Army led by general Marcus Acacius (Pascal) during the reign of coemperors Geta (Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger).
In January, Mescal told British publication The Times that he was apprehensive about becoming too famous after taking on the role.
“I don’t know what the difference will be. Maybe that’s naive?” the Normal People actor, 28, said. “Is it just that more people will stop you in the street? I’d get profoundly depressed if that’s so and hope it isn’t true.”
He added: “I’ll have an answer next year, but if [the film] impacts my life in that way, I’ll be in a bad spot. I’d have to move on and do an obtuse play nobody wants to see.”
