Pedro Pascal has no desire to go toe-to-toe with Paul Mescal again in fight scenes after filming “Gladiator II” together.
Pascal told Vanity Fair that Mescal’s transformation into muscle-bound Lucius for Ridley Scott’s sequel was a little more than daunting when it came to stunts.
“He got so strong. I would rather be thrown from a building than have to fight him again,” Pascal said. “To go up against somebody that fit and that talented and that much younger….It’s brutal, man. I call him Brick Wall Paul.”
Yet Pascal credited Mescal’s performance for why he also endured the “brutal” scenes.
“Outside of Ridley being a total genius, Paul is a big reason as to why I would put my poor body through that experience,” the “Last of Us” star said.
Mescal also told Vanity Fair that he was determined to look like a true warrior for the Roman Empire-set epic sequel.
“I just wanted to be big and strong and look like somebody who can cause a bit of damage when shit hits the fan,” Mescal said. “I think also, sometimes, one could, in striving for that perfect look, end up looking more like an underwear model than a warrior.”
He continued, “Muscles start to grow, and that can be deemed aesthetic in certain capacities, but there is something about feeling strong in your body that elicits just a different feeling. You carry yourself differently. It has an impact on you psychologically in a way that is useful for the film.”
Mescal previously told The Hollywood Reporter that he further didn’t want the focus of the film to be his bulked up physique.
“With films like this and superhero films, there is sometimes a focus on that, which I don’t find that interesting,” Mescal said. “Of course, there’s a physical robustness required for the character, but past that, I’m not interested. 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. […] Sometimes I see films and I’m like, ‘That person doesn’t look real.'”
