Paul Mescal stars as Lucius Verus, a new warrior with important ties to the original film in 'Gladiator II,' out Nov. 22.
star, 28, recently spoke with ET about the highly anticipated film, which comes out this November and picks up several years after the events of the 2000 epic, which starred"I think the main thing that I'm excited about is kind of the homage that it pays to the first one, but also the kind of new direction that the film takes," he shared.
"It's an immense honor -- it's not lost on me," he said of continuing the film's legacy with director Ridley Scott."That film is hugely important to a lot of people across the world. And for the great Ridley Scott to kind of pass the baton on to me is something that, like, my drama school self or even the version of myself that was 15 watching the film for the first time, could never have imagined.
"There was a lot of work that went into it," the actor recalled."Lots of lifting heavy things... lots of squatting, pushing, pulling. We didn't kind of change the wheel with it, it was all kind of pretty standard in that regard, but I was keen for it not to look false or kind of overly aesthetic in any way.""I think for a lot of us, especially the younger cohort of the cast, we would easily say that it's a job that changed our lives," he marveled.
"It's been in the cultural zeitgeist for 20 years, and there’s not a lot of films that have done that especially in this genre," he added."So there’s a healthy amount of pressure but also a healthy amount of confidence from the people that made the film. We are excited to kind of add the next installment to a film that has been and will continue to be incredibly popular."