'I call him Brick Wall Paul': Paul Mescal's costars on his new look for Gladiator II

Paul Mescal's hankering for GAA shorts might divide the fashion critics, but the actor believes that it was his years of playing Gaelic football that helped him land his role in Gladiator II.

Speaking to Vanity Fair, the Kildare actor said that he and director Ridley Scott spent around 10 minutes during their first Zoom call discussing his sporting history.

"Maybe that was something that helped with it, in that I’m used to being physical in my body," the 28-year-old said in Vanity Fair's 'First Look' at the long-awited sequel to Scott's 2000 Roman epic.

Paul plays the central character Lucius, the grown-up son of Lucilla, played by Connie Nielson and daughter of Richard Harris' emperor Marcus Aurelius in the original movie.

Set years later after the death of Russel Crowe's general Maximus Decimus Meridius the sequel focuses on Lucius and his return to Rome as a slave and gladiator.

Returning for the sequel alongside Nielsen as Lucilla is Derek Jacobi as Senator Gracchus, while Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn join as new characters.

Prepare to be entertained. Your first look at ‘Gladiator II,’ starring Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, and more, has arrived.

: https://t.co/DIGAL9DVRf pic.twitter.com/KKz7IxCD34

— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) July 1, 2024

Also joining the cast is Pedro Pascal as a Roman general Marcus Acacius, who said he'd sooner be "rather be thrown from a building than have to fight [Paul] again".

"It’s brutal, man. I call him Brick Wall Paul," Pascal told Vanity Fair. “He got so strong. To go up against somebody that fit and that talented and that much younger…"

"I just wanted to be big and strong and look like somebody who can cause a bit of damage when the shit hits the fan," Paul said when asked about his physicality for the film.

“I think also, sometimes, one could, in striving for that perfect look, end up looking more like an underwear model than a warrior."

A screening of the trailer by Ridley Scott at CinemaCon in April had critics raving about the sequel, which is set to be released in November this year.

Gizmodo reporter Germain Lussier posted on social media: “Well, the first #Gladiator 2 footage was instantly the best thing I've seen so far at #CinemaCon. Every bit as epic and bloody as you're expecting. Just massive.”