Paul Mescal to attend Dublin premiere of Gladiator II

Paul Mescal is set to attend the Irish premiere of the highly-anticipated Gladiator II next month.

The Oscar-nominated Normal People star will appear at the premiere of Ridley Scott’s long-awaited sequel to 2000 epic at the Light House Cinema in Dublin on Thursday, November 7.

This is the first major Hollywood role for the Maynooth actor, who plays set 20 years after the events of the original movie.

Mescal plays Lucius, the now-adult son of Connie Neilson’s Lucilla, in a fight for survival under the rule of tyrannical general Acacius, played by Pedro Pascal.

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Returning for the sequel alongside Nielsen as Lucilla is Derek Jacobi as Senator Gracchus, while Denzel Washington and Joseph Quinn join as new characters.

Speaking to GQ, as their November cover star, Mescal described Lucius as “deeply un-entitled.”

Presenting our November cover star: Paul Mescal.

The shorts get shorter. The roles get bolder. The fans grow ever more ravenous. Now, Paul Mescal is trading his indie tears for blockbuster blood as the centerpiece of Ridley Scott’s #GladiatorII

: https://t.co/eBd8iNHCCH pic.twitter.com/k8IvfwSpMk

— GQ Magazine (@GQMagazine) October 15, 2024

“He doesn’t feel entitled to the world, so he’s just scrapping. He has no sense of pride, which I think is a fun character trait to play.”

He also shared that filming the movie, shot in the height of summer in Malta and Morocco, was “intense”.

The only thing I will forever be angry at Ridley for is his deep desire to shoot at the f***ing peak of summer, as a pasty Irish boy who does not do well in the heat, in armour, covered in fake tan and sweat, rolling around.

“Those fights were intense.”

He also addressed social media rumours that he would run away from dates in the park.

He said he and his siblings saw the videos when they were home for Christmas and “were p***ing ourselves at it”.

“Categorically untrue. And we were laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing,” he said.