Gladiator II is the follow-up to Sir Ridley Scott’s award-winning film Gladiator starring Russell Crowe. Twenty-four years later, Scott returns to direct the sequel, with Paul Mescal starring as Lucius, alongside Denzel Washington as Macrinus, and Joseph Quinn as the villain Emperor Geta. Connie Neilsen also returns to reprise the role of Lucilla.
The epic return to the Roman Empire is already on its way to becoming a box-office success. Opening weekend projections range from $60 million to $80 million, and that is just domestically. Director Sir Ridley Scott has declared that he has plans for Gladiator 3. In the meantime, Gladiator II is releasing in U.S. theaters on November 22.
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Gladiator 2 Cast, Character & Cameo Guide
Gladiator 2’s casts includes legendary actors and up-and-coming stars, continuing the story established by Ridley Scott’s 2000 epic, Gladiator.
Screen Rant interviewed stars Connie Nielsen and Peter Mensah, cinematographer John Mathieson, and composer Harry Gregson-Williams at the Los Angeles red carpet premiere of Gladiator II. They each revealed what it’s like working with Director Sir Ridley Scott and how they pulled from personal experiences to create their characters, while Top Gun: Maverick actor Greg Tarzan Davis came as a fan of the franchise and shared stories from his own filmography.
Connie Nielsen Brought Her Own Life Experiences To Gladiator II
“You bring the truth in wherever it comes from.”
Screen Rant: Did you pull from your own experiences to create the mother-son relationship with Lucius?
Connie Nielsen: That would be hard not to, right? You bring the truth in wherever it comes from. But it’s also the situation that Ridley put me in. I cannot even imagine having to make such an incredible sacrifice as a mother. To have to give up your child in order to save his life. That was heartbreaking in and of itself. Whether you’re a mother or not, that’s a pretty heartbreaking choice to have to make.
Source: Screen Rant Plus
Gladiator II’s Peter Mensah Knows You Have To “Be On Your Game” When You Work With Ridley Scott
“He knows every frame, every angle, and you can’t cheat. You’ve got to go to work. ”
Screen Rant: What was your first day on set like?
Peter Mensah: I’ll tell you right now, it was, let’s say, breathtaking. It’s a phenomenal set. Castle, 400 extras, animals, and then fight. It was a lot.
Screen Rant: What was it like working with Sir Ridley Scott?
Peter Mensah: He has done his own storyboards. He knows every frame, every angle, and you can’t cheat. You’ve got to go to work. You’ve got to be on your game. But honestly, it was a great experience.
Source: Screen Rant Plus
Gladiator II Cinematographer John Mathieson Cannot Wait For Audiences To See The Marine Fight
“When you watch the Royal Box, the Emperors are thinking, this is fantastic.”
Screen Rant: What are you most excited for audiences to see in Gladiator II?
John Mathieson: The marine fight in the Colosseum when they flood that. It’s colorful. It’s decadent. It’s over the top. It’s Vegas. It’s everything that’s going on. There’s so much to look at. It’s just gorgeous. It’s just a great fun thing. They are slaughtering each other at the same time. When you watch the Royal Box, the Emperors are thinking, this is fantastic. And then it kind of twists a bit. I think that’s, for me, not necessarily the biggest thing, but it’s the most fun thing.
The fact that they could actually do that 2,000 years ago, flood that place. You speak to Romans, they said, no, no, impossible. Then they went underground, they found the cisterns, they found the water, they could flood it. And there’s sharks.
Source: Screen Rant Plus
Composer Harry Gregson-Williams Did Not Expect To Work On Gladiator II
“I know Ridley pretty well, but I wasn’t expecting to get a call that day.”
Screen Rant: What were your inspirations for creating the score for Gladiator II, especially given that you did not do the music for the first film?
Harry Gregson-Williams: Any time I get a call from Ridley Scott, that’s kind of special. We’ve done a couple of movies together. During COVID times, The Last Duel and The House of Gucci, which are very different. And before that, The Martian, and a few others. I know Ridley pretty well, but I wasn’t expecting to get a call that day.
I’ve done some sequels. I’ve done the Shrek series, I’ve done Narnia. But I didn’t do the first Gladiator movie, so it was different for me to do a sequel where I didn’t do the first movie. Really, my job was to embody the spiritual essence of the first movie, not by quoting him, but the DNA of it, and bring that into Gladiator II. And that’s really what Ridley talked to me about at the beginning of the movie.
Source: Screen Rant Plus
“We bonded through trauma,” the actor explains.
Screen Rant: Before you filmed Top Gun: Maverick, you went through intense training, right?
Greg Tarzan Davis: Yes, that was insane. I was one of the last ones to sign up for the film. I had to learn and catch up with them. So that was intense. Learning how to swim, learning how to fly, learning how to do all of this stuff to get ready to film. But it was all worth it.
Screen Rant: Do you have a fond memory from that or was it all too intense?
Greg Tarzan Davis: A fond memory? We all bonded through trauma. I can say that. I was driving to and from air bases. On the bus rides it seemed like we were a team. Cracking jokes, telling stories, crying, throwing up.
Screen Rant: Did you really actually throw up?
Greg Tarzan Davis: No, not me. Not me, of course. I’m talking about Lewis, Glen, Miles, that’s who I was talking about.
Source: Screen Rant Plus
More About Gladiator II (2024)
Years after witnessing the death of Maximus at the hands of his uncle, Lucius must enter the Colosseum after the powerful emperors of Rome conquer his home. With rage in his heart and the future of the empire at stake, he looks to the past to find the strength and honor needed to return the glory of Rome to its people.
Check out our other Gladiator II interviews here:
Gladiator II comes to theaters on November 22.
Gladiator 2 is the follow-up to Ridley Scott’s award-winning film Gladiator from 2000. Scott returns to direct the sequel, with Paul Mescal staring as Lucius, alongside Denzel Washington and Joseph Quinn as the villain Emperor Geta. Gladiator 2 had been stuck in development hell for years before a script written by David Scarpa finally moved forward.
- Release Date
- November 22, 2024
- Studio(s)
- Paramount Pictures , Universal Pictures , Scott Free Productions , Red Wagon Entertainment
- Distributor(s)
- Paramount Pictures
- Writers
- David Scarpa , Peter Craig , David Franzoni
- Cast
- Paul Mescal , Pedro Pascal , Denzel Washington , Connie Nielsen , Joseph Quinn , Fred Hechinger , Derek Jacobi , May Calamawy , Peter Mensah , Matt Lucas , Alexander Karim , Tim McInnerny , Lee Charles , Chidi Ajufo , Alfie Tempest , Riana Duce , Chi Lewis Parry , Paul Candelent , Hadrian Howard , Alexander Simkin , Mikhail Basmadjian , Matthew Charlery-Smith , Maxime Durand , Lior Raz
- Character(s)
- Lucius Verus , Marcus Acacius , Macrinus , Lucilla , Emperor Caracalla , Emperor Geta , Gracchus
- Main Genre
- Adventure
