First Look Photos for Ridley Scott's Epic Film GLADIATOR II and New Story and Character Details
Paramount Pictures recently several photos for Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II, which features a first look at all of the main characters of the film. These come from Vanity Fair who also offers up a lot of story and character details as well.
The images feature Paul Mescal as Lucius, Connie Nielsen back as Lucilla, Denzel Washington as Macrinus, Fred Hechinger as Emperor Caracalla, Joseph Quinn as Emperor Geta, and Pedro Pascal as Marcus Acacius.
The story takes place years after Maximus gave his life, upending the leadership of the decadent and corrupt society. The sequel centers on Lucius, the son of Lucilla, and nephew of Commodus, the son of Roman leader Marcus Aurelius who murdered his father and seized the throne.
Commodus met his downfall in the gladiator ring against Maximus, who despite being mortally wounded, took down the emperor before passing on to reunite with his family. Maximus had saved Lucius and his mother, leaving a lasting impact on the young boy.
It’s explained that “decades have passed and Lucius has come of age far away from his mother. While he was still a child, Lucilla sent him to the northern coast of Africa, to a region called Numidia that was (at that point) just outside the reach of the Roman Empire.
“He never fully understood why, and as he grew stronger, so did his resentment—even if his mother’s reasons had been pure.’ Nielson said: ‘There’s a lot of Sophie’s Choice going on here, where these are impossible situations that we are being forced to reckon with.”
She adds: “There is an authoritarian power that is parading as if it were still somehow the vestiges of a Republican government. Inside of this travesty are human beings who are caught in this gamesmanship and power.
“That is what I find always so interesting in Ridley’s stories. He’s really showing the effect of power on people and what happens in a place where power is unrestrained.”
Mescal also talked the story saying: “What human beings will do to survive, but also what human beings will do to win. We see that in the arena, but also in the political struggle that’s going on outside of my character’s storyline, where you see there’s other characters striving and pulling for power.
“Where’s the space for humanity? Where’s the space for love, familial connection? And ultimately, will those things overcome this kind of greed and power? Those things are oftentimes directly in conflict with each other.”
Scott reveals that Gladiator II begins with Mescal’s Lucius living a peaceful life with his has a wife and child until conquerors from his homeland begin to encroach. Scott says: “The film begins with the raiding party of the Roman fleet, which comes in from the sea and decimates Numidia. It’s pretty gnarly.”
The director says: “He’s taken root in a seacoast town in Numidia. He’s a blue-eyed, fair-skinned man with red hair, and he couldn’t be more different from the inhabitants. It’s one of the last surviving civilizations, as the Romans begin to descend in North Africa and take it all over.”
Leading that charge is Pascal’s Marcus Acacius, “a Roman general said to have trained as a junior officer under Crowe’s character, although he wasn’t seen in the first movie.”
Pascal talked about his character saying: “This movie has an identity that is shaped by his legacy. It wouldn’t make sense for it not to.” He goes on to describe Acacius as a fighter who “learned from the best, so of course this code of honor is ingrained into his training and into his existence.
“But at the end of the day, he’s a different person. And that can’t change who he is. Maximus is Maximus, and that can’t be replicated. That just makes Acacius capable of different things.”
Lucius eventually finds himself a prisoner that is taken to Rome, and there he has to fight in the Colosseum. Scott how this plays out: “The wrinkle is, when he gets to Rome as a prisoner and has a first round in the arena, he sees his mother—to his shock.
“He doesn’t know whether she’s alive or not. How would he know? You don’t have telephones. There’s no press. And there’s his mother in the royal box looking pretty good after 20 years. And she’s with the general who he came face-to-face with on the wall in Numidia.”
Lucilla doesn’t recognize Lucius in the Colosseum as her son, and she has no idea about the bloody history between him and the man she loves.
Nielsen says: “She’s a woman who has had a huge loss, and in the middle of that, a gift that is Pedro Pascal. What a gift that guy is. Even to play with, to work with, I just absolutely love him, and he’s so perfect for this role. He is one of those rare actors who really has heart, soul, and at the same time this incredible gift of transformation.”
As you might imagine, the story eventually finds Lucius and Acacius battling each other again, and Lucius is prepared to fight everything and everyone.
Mescal says: “It’s very ‘angry young man’ drama in that sense. He can see the way Rome has kind of fallen in on itself. Rome represents all the personal neglect that he felt as a child.
“Suddenly he’s thrust back into that world and has direct proximity to all of the things that he thinks he hates and doesn’t feel attached to anymore.”
As for the other characters in the story, Denzel Washington plays a powerbroker named Macrinus, described by Scott as “an arms dealer who supplies food for the armies in Europe, supplies wine and oil, makes steel, makes spears, weapons, cannons, and catapults.”
“So he is a very wealthy man. Instead of having a stable of racehorses, he has a stable of gladiators,” Scott says. “He’s beautiful. He drives a golden Ferrari. I got him a gold-plated chariot.”
Then there’s Fred Hechinger (Thelma) as Emperor Caracalla and Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things) as Emperor Geta. They play two sadistic brothers who rule the empire.
Scott says these two guys threaten Lucilla’s well-being as a means of controlling Acacius. “They’re using her as a little bit of leverage if they have to. Caracalla and Geta are twins and are definitely damaged goods from birth.”
Mescal went on to talk about his character’s motivation saying: “He wants nothing to do with the image of Rome. He wants nothing to do with it other than to tear it apart initially. The Romans were some savage, savage individuals.
“They would go from continent to continent and just destroy communities and nations. The film doesn’t shy away from the kind of brutality of that, and the emperors at the center of it, and this kind of corrupted power that he can see through.
“There’s a wonderful clarity to him. He’s unafraid of the establishment in a way that makes him dangerous to the establishment.”
The movie hits theaters on November 22nd!
