Paul Mescal’s shirtless scenes in the London stage revival of A Streetcar Named Desire helped convince film bosses that he was the perfect leading man for Gladiator 2.
The Normal People star is set to play Lucius, the son of Connie Nielson’s character Lucilla from the original 2000 movie, in the upcoming sequel.
Gladiator 2 will be set 20 years after the events of Ridley Scott’s first film, with an adult Lucius ready to continue the legacy of Maximus, the brave warrior played by Russell Crowe in the original movie.
Speaking to Variety, Paramount’s co-president Daria Cercek revealed that she and her fellow co-president Michael Ireland headed to London to watch Paul in the production of Tennessee Williams’ play, in which he played Stanley Kowalski, the domineering brother-in-law of protagonist Blanche DuBois.
“He played Stanley, and there are several moments where he takes off his shirt and it was electric,” Daria recalled.
“The ladies in the audience were very vocal, and we were like, ‘I think we’ve found our guy.’”
The recent production of Streetcar started at the Almeida Theatre in Islington last December before transferring to the Phoenix Theatre in the West End due to its huge popularity.
Paul starred alongside Patsy Ferran as Blanche and We Are Lady Parts’ Anjana Vasan as Stella, Stanley’s wife.
It’s been an exciting year for the Irish actor, whose Gladiator 2 casting was first rumoured back in January, a few weeks before he received his first Oscar nomination for his leading role in indie movie Aftersun.
He’ll star alongside the likes of Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal and Stranger Things’ Joseph Quinn in the epic sequel.
The film’s original star Russell Crowe has confirmed that he won’t be appearing in the movie, joking at a recent press conference at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival that “they should be fucking paying me, for the amount of questions I’ve had to answer about a fucking film that I’m not even in”.
“It’s got nothing to do with me,” he added. “In that world I’m dead, six feet under, and that’s that.”
He did, however, admit to “a certain tinge of jealousy” after seeing the film’s set during a trip to Malta this summer, “because it reminds me not only of my youth, but of what that meant for me in my life”.
Russell went on to throw his support behind the sequel, noting that “if Ridley has decided to do a second part to that story, he will have really strong reasons”.
“It’s very typical of Ridley to rethink everything that he’s done and know how to make it better,” he added. “I couldn’t think of that movie being anything less than absolutely spectacular when it does come out.”
Filming for Gladiator 2 is currently on pause while the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA is on strike, following the breakdown of negotiations between SAG and the AMPTP, the organisation representing the interests of the major film studios.
SAG has called for an increase in actors’ pay and a change to how residuals are paid out by streaming services, along with new regulations in the use of artificial intelligence.