Paramount Pictures has dropped this brand-new featurette for Gladiator II which is directed by Ridley Scott and starring Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington.
In order to make it out of the gladiatorial games at the Colosseum and fight in the war, the stars of Gladiator II had to put in a lot of effort to prepare for the stunt work that was ahead.
The featurette shows some of exciting fighting sequence at Colosseum hat audiences are in store for, but the hard training that Mescal and Pascal endured while filming this epic. As Washington puts it, “Pedro and Paul got their ass beat by the best!”
Here is the synopsis Gladiator II, : “From legendary director Ridley Scott, Gladiator II continues the epic saga of power, intrigue, and vengeance set in Ancient Rome. Years after witnessing the death of the revered hero Maximus at the hands of his uncle, Lucius (Paul Mescal) is forced to enter the Colosseum after his home is conquered by the tyrannical Emperors who now lead Rome with an iron fist. With rage in his heart and the future of the Empire at stake, Lucius must look to his past to find strength and honor to return the glory of Rome to its people.”
The cast includes Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Lior Raz, Derek Jacobi, with Connie Nielsen and Denzel Washington. The screenplay was penned by David Scarpa.
Although Ridley Scott and the studio are promoting this film as the greatest movie they’ve ever worked on, many skeptics who are fans of the original still consider it unnecessary because the story had a fitting conclusion with Maximus’ story ending. But Scott is already committed to making his saga into a trilogy.
He said, “I’m already playing with the idea of Gladiator 3. No, seriously. The end of Gladiator II evokes that of the Godfather, with Michael Corleone who ends up with a job he didn’t want, and who wonders, ‘And now, Father, what am I doing? ‘The next film will therefore speak of a man who does not want to be where he is.”
Gladiator II is rated R for “strong bloody violence” and is set to hit theaters on November 22, the same day as Wicked.