GLADIATOR II Behind The Scenes #3 (2024)

As with the first movie, where it was a minor miracle that Russell Crowe existed at the time, we needed a character like that to play Maximus. Paul Mescal may be as equally lucky a piece of casting. I was flicking around and I found a show that I'd never normally watched called Normal People. It's very well done and Paul reminded me of Richard Harris as a crossover with a very young Albert Finney. So there's a very good DNA then right there, plus the nose, right? And he was a very sound and solid and sympathetic actor and I got binge watching on this and from that, as this story and this script started to evolve, I started to think about him. That's how I tend to cast. So yeah, the first Gladiator obviously holds a huge amount of weight for not just myself, but like a huge amount of people across the world. So it's not lost on me what we as a cast of actors and Ridley are stepping into. First of all, he's a wonderful young man and one of the things he brings is that he's a consummate professional. He's obviously very talented, very humble. It's almost a bit of a proud father kind of thing for me, just watching him do his thing. And he was saying to me today how he had to keep a straight face and all of that. And he's just a wonderful actor, a wonderful human being and quite, quite talented. And like I said, There was a moment stepping out in kind of Gladiator armor where I was like, okay, well this looks like it's going to happen. But I think as an actor, you've got to be very quick to kind of dispel any notions of not necessarily ego, but playing into the idea that something is iconic before you've made it. You've got to earn that. And I was keen to kind of expel those thoughts in the prep process and in the filming, because it's like they didn't make the first Gladiator with the intention of it being what it became. They made a film, they worked hard and it became what it was through the quality of the filmmaking and the acting. That's a harder thing to do when you're aware of the legacy when you're stepping into it. Once Paul started the movie, we continued to be amazed. He had never ridden a horse. He started doing daily training. Pretty soon he was arguing with Ridley about doing stunt work. Paul was tenacious. You'll see a few of his stunts in the movie and his instincts for what's true in the scene are remarkable for a young man. And he became, as a great actor is, the kind of custodian of his character, Lucius. And he protected Lucius and we all learned to trust his gut. For other people to decide what they want in terms of what the film means to them. But I'm incredibly proud of the process and the work that went into this film from a personal side and also in terms of the finished product. I have only two words for how we did everything and those two words are Ridley Scott. He has capacities that are almost superhuman in terms of keeping stuff in his head. He storyboards the movie frame by frame. Months before you ever start shooting, he has all the battle sequences in his head and other sequences too. But all the big spectacle things he has. And not only does he draw them himself, he also paints them himself. Ridley's a genius, like his late great brother. And it's more than an opportunity and a pleasure. He's just, he's a, I'm gonna say a national treasure and all that. I know he'd hate me saying those kind of things. He's a gruffy old genius, you know, and I love him. He just gets on with it and he's a visionary. I mean, what he sees and how he puts it together and his team, you know, I don't have to think or worry about anything. Just put the gear on and do my part. You have two up there, one there, one here. Two, four, eight today. The speed, if you know where to and how to do it, five cameras are five times faster. If I've got a big scene, I have 11 cameras and I'll say, camera, camera, camera, gonna walk in there, it's gonna come. And that comes from me boarding it because I know where to put a camera. But that said, for a cameraman like John Matheson or Darius Walsky, it's hell because they gotta cope with multi-angles and different size lenses. But it means everyone is on all the time and I dress the camera operators in costume. And I wrap the cameras in some sackings so you barely see them. If you slow a film down, you can see, oh, there's a camera. I think at least three here. Yeah, we're getting three on the floor. It's really efficient. But if you're not used to it, don't try it. You'll get into chaos. You won't make a shot till three o'clock. Normally we're shooting by about nine in the morning. It's all to do with prep, dude. Prep, prep, prep. If you walk on the floor, you don't know what to do. You haven't prepped. And John was the perfect guy, the perfect DP. He had been here before. He did a brilliant job. He's a storyteller with shadows and light, with character, with the action. So the old team was back. This is the market square outside the Coliseum. And the entry to our set is here. We're looking at an ancient arch, which is very early in the empire. That's why it's partially buried. This was built 500 years ago. We're surmising. And beyond that is the actual wall of the Fort Picasso here in Malta. And the reason why we're here is because we're surrounded by ancient stone walls as a backdrop to our set build within it. And we try to match the flavor of the existing walls to the set pieces as best we could, the color and texture. This was inspired by David Roberts, who was a famous English 18th century illustrator and engraver. And it's kind of inspired by one of his engravings.