It is common for an actor to receive that character that forces him to physically transform, to take his body to the extreme in order to blend into the role, whether by drastically losing weight or gaining muscle. Paul Mescal has been the last to suffer the ravages of a role that demands such a change: in his case, that of Lucius in Gladiator II.
The Irish actor rose to fame in 2020 with the series Normal People and, since then, he has starred in such acclaimed projects as Aftersun (2022) or Unknown (2023), but it is now that he dares for the first time with a shitty action blockbuster in the sequel to Gladiator (2000).
Hence, before and during the months of filming, he underwent hard training to achieve a gladiator’s body, gaining 8 kilos for the project. During his speech at a showing of the film in New York (via IndieWire), Mescal has referred to this arduous process that he had to go through, not only physically, but also psychologically, much more demanding than he initially expected.
Paul Mescal and his physical change for ‘Gladiator II’
Paul Mescal has admitted that, when he signed for the sequel to Ridley Scott’s classic, he believed he would barely have to change his physique. “At first, when it was announced that I was going to play this character, I made the mistake of naively talking to a journalist and saying, ‘I think I’m going to play the gladiator with a fairly normal physique.’ against what the film required,” he confessed.
“To put it simply: they give you everything. In a movie of this scale, you have the best trainer you could imagine, you have food delivered to your door, so that requires discipline, but it is not hard work,” he explained: “They are simply the best in each area telling you what to do.”
Despite being grateful to have a team of experts to help him become Lucius, the Irishman has admitted that the training also affected him psychologically.
“Regarding the psychological change derived from training, you start to feel that your body is capable, that it can inflict damage,” revealed: “It changes the way you move and operate. And, to be honest, it’s a lot of fun to move around in that place when you know it’s a simulation.”
During the meeting, Mescal mentioned his lack of previous experience doing action scenes. “I had done a fight scene before, but this raised the intensity. To be fair, independent film budgets don’t generally prioritize actor safety, so you just go with the flow and hope the other actor doesn’t punch you in the face.”
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