If you keep finding yourself coming back to the Gladiator II trailer, you’re not alone.
The anticipated sequel to the Oscar-winning 2000 epic starring Russell Crowe is arriving on screens on 15 November this year, which will place new leading star Paul Mescal centre stage.
The second film is set more than two decades after the events of the first, and will follow a grown-up Lucius’ own quest for vengeance, having been inspired by seeing Maximus in the gladiator arena as a child.
Judging by the action-packed trailer – which also features Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen and Joseph Quinn – we can already expect a pretty wild ride.
And according to director Ridley, the blockbuster is set to best all of his previous films in one specific way.
Speaking in a recent interview with Empire magazine, the director revealed: “We begin the film with probably the biggest action sequence I’ve ever done.”
With a resume that boasts films like Napoleon, Blade Runner 2049 and Alien: Covenant, that’s a pretty big statement to make.
“Probably bigger than anything in Napoleon,” he added.
The trailer gives some sense of what that action might look like, as Paul’s character engages in some brutal gladiator matches – including one with a very angry rhino.
“Computerisation and AI — you have to embrace it,” Ridley elaborated. “I can have a computer read every molecule and wrinkle on a rhino and then cut it on a thick piece of plastic, absolutely as a rhino’s body, which is then tailored to a skeleton shape.”
It turns out Paul had to face the eight-wheeled, plastic rhino head-on. “I have this thing that can do 40 miles an hour, spin on the spot, wag its head and snarl,” the director added.
“A two-ton rhino with a guy on its back! I mean, it’s a lot of fun.”
Paul’s commitment to the role – which included a pretty drastic physical transformation – actually earned him a cheeky nickname on set.
“I call him Brick Wall Paul,” co-star Pedro told Vanity Fair. “He got so strong. I would rather be thrown from a building than have to fight him again.