Paul Mescal's star is born in the first look at Gladiator II

Remember in A Star Is Born how Lady Gaga’s character lamented that she was always told her nose was too big to make it in the music industry? Imagine the meme from that movie—Bradley Cooper saying “I just want to take another look at you”—except it’s Paul Mescal and Ridley Scott. “My nose just is kind of Roman,” Mescal states the obvious in a new Vanity Fair profile. “So it’s useful in this context. The nose that I absolutely hated when I was in secondary school—and used to get ribbed for—became very, very useful when Ridley needed somebody to be in Gladiator II.”

Scott knew his star had been born when he watched Normal People, and thought he was “absolutely perfect” for the role after speaking with the Irish actor via Zoom for 20 minutes. Vanity Fair has the first-look photos for Scott’s upcoming sequel, and yes, Mescal looks right at home in this movie’s Roman Empire: buff, handsome, and deadly. Mescal plays Lucius, the nephew of former Emperor Commodus as seen in the first Gladiator film. Per VF, His mother Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) sent him away to grow up in Numidia, where he begins his own family and resents his mother and the empire. When the Roman army (led by Pedro Pascal’s general Marcus Acacius) attacks, Lucius’ new home is destroyed and he’s captured and brought back to Rome to be a gladiator. The Rome he returns to is corrupt and cruel, led by two “sadistic” co-Emperors (Fred Hechinger and Joseph Quinn), and Lucius finds his mother is involved with the very general who just destroyed his way of life in Numidia.