Five minutes with actors Paul Mescal and Fred Hechinger

When we say epic, we mean it – Gladiator II it’s an extraordinary feat of filmmaking. Director Ridley Scott built the sets to mimic Rome in Malta, assembling the arena to mimic the Colosseum. His team created a life-size statue of Pedro Pascal on horseback. Eighty tents were dedicated to hair and make-up departments in Morocco. He effectively built a platform for his actors.

Its lead, Paul Mescal, stepped up to play Lucius. He is still the sensitive and loving type that we recognize from his roles Normal people or Aftersolarbut as he tells Wide table in this five-minute interview, the most difficult part of his role was instilling “someone who psychologically is not really afraid to die.”

Until Gladiator IIThe battle scenes are violent and gory, and the action is non-stop, with the cast shining in the more intimate scenes. Denzel Washington plays an ambitious Roman businessman (and we can already hear Oscar talk in the air). Pascal is General Acacia and the husband of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen, whom you remember from the first film). And the twin emperors in the film Caracalla and Geta are played by Fred Hechinger (White Lotus) and Joseph Quinn (Other people’s things).

Wide table caught up with Mezcal and Hechinger while they were in Sydney to find out more about the making of this blockbuster and how they prepared for such challenging roles.

Hi Fred! Hello Pavlo! Gladiator II such an epic movie. You play very different characters. How would you describe your characters in three words?

Mezcal: Loyal. Inexorable. Brave.

Hechinger: Delicious. patient. Impulsive.

Is there a scene you wish you could relive – because it was difficult or fun to do?

Mescal: Working with Denzel for the first time. I could go back to that stage and live there for 100 years. It was just one of those moments as an actor, you never dream of having someone like that around you and having Ridley in charge of everything – I was like, ‘This is a wild, wild experience.’

Hechinger: Joe (Joseph Quinn) and I were shooting a scene with Pedro (Pascal) and it was one of those days where the sun is about to set and you have this beautiful gold… That was the feeling, the feeling of that sunny afternoon. I could live there too.

Ridley Scott creates huge sets to recreate Rome. What was it like to step into his arena?

Hechinger: It’s breathtaking. My first day (of filming) was going up the stairs to the Colosseum and I was speechless. It really is built around you. You are also, I think, aware of all the gifts you are given: Ridley rules the world he has built. It means he really trusts the actors to embody their character and you don’t really have to say much about anything else because he’s created this world and it’s directions.

Mescal: I totally support that. This is an absolute gift. It’s like a super expensive gift. The fact that he builds this whole world, it’s like you don’t have to imagine it – that’s a huge part of an actor’s job to imagine. You’re actually just there with the actors in front of you, and that’s your main focus.

Did the scale of the sets add to the pressure to make this sequel?

Mescal: At certain points, yes. When you see the scale and amount of work that goes into making a Ridley Scott film, it definitely adds to the pressure of the moment.

I jotted down a few notes while watching the movie: one was “running and screaming,” the other was “way more monkeys.” What was the hardest thing you had to do to prepare for the role?

Mescal: I believe that settling in a person who psychologically is not really afraid of dying is something very far from everything we are used to living with. And even though it’s an epic action movie, you still find the truth about what happened to Lucius. He loses his wife so early in the film, and feels like an abandoned mother, and that’s always the part that interests me, but it’s also the hardest part of the character for me.

Hechinger: I really agree with that. Sometimes you think that learning to do this or that is going to be the hard part, but there’s an objectivity or practicality to it: you sit down and learn to ride a horse or work with that animal, whatever it is. Things that are more unpleasant, and sometimes significant, at first glance seem insignificant. Suddenly taking that cup is strange.

Mescal: Or enter a room or something…

Hechinger: Yes, exactly. And I think it’s because there’s a responsibility to the person you’re playing. You are the only person who can protect them and be there for them. All these little things add up and it really does matter. Sometimes you find fault with it, and I don’t think you can get away from that. I think you have to be uncompromising about it.

You were in Sydney for a hot minute. Did you have an opportunity to spend time here?

Hechinger: We swam!

Mescal: We went to the beach yesterday.

where did you swim

Mezcal: Coogee Beach.

Hechinger: We landed and immediately swam, it was incredible. I mean any day in salt water is a blessed day.

Gladiator II in cinemas from November 14.