Irish actor Paul Mescal has been putting in the hours at the gym in preparation for his role in the sequel to the 2000 blockbuster, Gladiator.
A video of the 27-year-old shirtless and performing standing dumbbell rows has gone viral on social media overnight, which shows the actor’s new physique ahead of the much-anticipated film.
Wearing just a pair of black shorts and trainers, Mescal appears to have grown out his hair as he rocks a beard and moustache to morph into the character of Lucius, the now grown-up nephew of Roman Emperor Commodus, who was played by Joaquin Phoenix in the original movie starring Russell Crowe.
“This guy’s got to fight and got to be a beast. And whatever that looks and feels like is right for me, is what it’s going to be,” he told The Hollywood Reporter recently on his transformation. “Sometimes I see films and I’m like, ‘That person doesn’t look real.’”
However, in the same interview, Mescal said he doesn’t want the focus to be on his physical transformation.
“With films like this and superhero films, there is sometimes a focus on that, which I don’t find that interesting,” he said.
“Of course there’s a physical robustness required for the character, but past that, I’m not interested.”
The original film went on to win five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Crowe’s performance as a former Roman-General-turned-gladiator, who is out to avenge the murder of his family. The sequel will also be directed by the acclaimed Ridley Scott.
In a recent interview with Collider, Crowe said he felt “slightly jealous” about not being involved in the sequel, given it was such a “huge experience” in his life.
“I’m sure that [there have] been things on [Scott’s] mind for the last 24 years that he thinks he can probably do better [in the movie],” Crowe told the outlet.
“He’s going to want to go back into that world and create something [on] the same level of spectacle as the first one.”