RELEASED NEXT MONTH, actor Paul Mescal is set to take on the role of Lucius Verus in the highly anticipated sequel to 2000’s Academy Award winning Gladiator. And his training to look the part included more than the odd gym session, according to a recent interview.
Speaking to Empire, Mescal said he trained 45 minutes six days a week with his trainer who Mescal shared, ‘knows I don’t have a huge amount of patience,’
Directed by Ridley Scott and also starring Pedro Pascal, when it came to taking on the role, Mescal explained, ‘I always had a kind of latent ambition to do something that was more muscular and physical. From a selfish side of things, I wanted to surprise an audience, because I knew that I have this kind of role within me.’
The 28-year-old continued to share that he wanted to do the role justice by adjusting his training to suit that of a gladiator. He admitted that when he was first cast, he ‘had this idea of like, ‘You know what? I’m just gonna make gladiators look normal.’ But the closer I got, I thought that would be me getting in the way of the story.’
‘How do they survive this level of violence that we have no real comprehension of today in a sporting context? The only way you can do that is if you’re robust and able to take the impact of near-death experiences on a day-to-day basis,’ says Mescal, ‘So then it just meant lifting heavy things for a long time and eating lots of chicken’.
Mescal explained that he wanted to go against the grain when it came to his physique training. ‘This ideal image that has been informed by superhero films – that was something I was keen to avoid,’ he shared, ‘Because superheroes don’t exist, but gladiators did. We don’t really know what they looked like, but they were prime athletes raised in stables, and they trained every day. So I was like, ‘Let’s just go back to what I’m used to – which is Gaelic football training.’
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Various interviews with the actor have covered his transformation ahead of the blockbuster. When asked by Capital fm about his training routine, he candidly explained that he had a lot of help, sharing, ‘It’s a first world problem. Like I had every amenity available to me. I had a great trainer. People telling me what and when to eat. And I think it’s just a by-product. You have to train hard to be in a film like this and I kind of loved it. Of course, it gets tiresome at certain moments.’
Gladiator II is set to hit theatres on November 14, 2024, and fans are eager to see if the sequel will fill the big shoes of its predecessor starring Russell Crowe. Regardless, it seems Mescal has put in the hard graft to pull off the part.
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