The first footage from Ridley Scott’s upcoming Gladiator II has been shared – and it shows Paul Mescal as a gladiator fighting a rhinoceros.
The footage was shown by Paramount yesterday (April 12) at the Las Vegas Cinema Con. It also included clips from actors Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal, who are also in the film.
“I remember that day. I never forgot it. That a slave could take revenge against an emperor,” Mescal’s character says in the clip (via The Hollywood Reporter). Mescal plays Lucius Verus, the nephew of the original film’s villain Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) but who grows up to who grows to idolise deceased gladiator Maximus (Russell Crowe).
Next, a boat battle is seen taking place in the Colosseum and Mescal and other Gladiators fight a bunch of angry baboons in front of screaming crowds.
“Rage is your gift,” Washington tells Mescal’s character before Washington and Pascal watch on as Mescal fights a rhinoceros. A soldier in full body armour sits on top of the rhino as it flies towards Mescal.
The footage ends with a brutal fight between Pascal and Paul Mescal.
The first official trailer is expected to land soon, ahead of the film’s release later this year.
Reprising their roles in Gladiator and glimpsed momentarily in the teased footage were Connie Nielsen as Lucilla, mother to Mescal’s Lucius Verus, and Derek Jacobi as Roman Senator Gracchus.
Meanwhile, Scott and the cast members also sent a video message to Comic Con talking about the movie.
Scott promised the sequel will be “well worth the wait” and said “it’s possibly even more extraordinary than the first.”
Mescal meanwhile said working on the film was “one of the standout moments in my life to date” and Washington said that it’s got “emotion, action (and) spectacle unlike anything else onscreen this year.” He added: “This is why people go to the movies.”
Earlier this week at ComicCon, the official title and poster for the sequel to Gladiator was revealed.
The name of the sequel to the winner of Best Picture at the 73rd Academy Awards, is simply Gladiator II.
The poster (via The Independent) depicts a large gladiator shield, with the film’s title, release date (November 22, 2024) and its tagline, which reads: “What we do in life echoes in eternity.”
In January, Mescal shared his concern about the fame which may come with the epic sequel. Speaking to The Sunday Times, the Irish actor said about the film’s upcoming release: “I don’t know what the difference will be. Maybe that’s naive? Is it just that more people will stop you in the street?”
He continued: “I’d get profoundly depressed if that’s so and hope it isn’t true. I’ll have an answer next year, but if [the film] impacts my life in that way, I’ll be in a bad spot. I’d have to move on and do an obtuse play nobody wants to see.”