At a special screening at the Paramount lot on Friday Gladiator II Stars Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen and Fred Hechinger shared a first look at their new film and shared their experiences working on Ridley Scott's sequel.

In the film, Mescal plays the adult Lucius Verus II, a nephew of Emperor Commodus from the original film, played by Joaquin Phoenix. Lucius returns to Rome after being forced into slavery to fight not as a ruler but as a gladiator in search of revenge and power and to restore the glory of Rome to its people.

“I suppose for me Lucius represented something I'd never done before, like someone who's pretty much at the forefront of the two-and-a-half hours,” Mescal said of taking on the lead role. “It’s something I’ve never done before, and it’s something that’s kind of latent in me, something that’s full of something that people haven’t seen.”

Washington also plays a prominent role in the film as Macrinus, a wealthy arms dealer and former gladiator who plans to control Rome. The actor joked during the question and answer session: “He is misunderstood. He's a nice guy.

“He tries to take advantage of everyone. He would use his mother, he would use his own children; he had already used up his soul, so he didn't have any left. He's in bed with the devil,” Washington continued, explaining that Scott made their job easier by building life-size sets for filming in Malta. “When you walked around, you were in Rome and it felt like there were 10,000 extras and horses. It was a fantasy, it was a game, it was fun; Just put on the gear, put on the dress and go, that's how I see it. I put on this dress, these rings, and I go crazy.”

Mescal also discussed his character's physical and emotional transformation, joking that he “had this naive idea at the beginning where I thought, 'Maybe I'll just play a gladiator that looks kind of normal.'” He later realized: “I always saw him as a dog, like someone who just fights his way to survive,” who for most of the film “doesn’t care whether he lives or dies.”

The Normal people Star told a story about how he was sitting in the production tent on the first day of filming when Scott walked in with a cigar. “I'm totally shitting myself and he looks at me and says, 'Are you nervous?' And I didn't know what the right answer was, so I was like, “Eh.” He says, “Your nerves aren't doing me any damn good.” “March out, the cameras are rolling,” Mescal recalled to laughter Crowd.

Concluding the conversation, Mescal noted that the sequel, coming 24 years after the original, “carries the legacy of the first film with great pride and honor, but I think it takes it in a direction that carries through that honor and respect.” drives the film.” Roof.

“I think it was created by the only man who could ever touch it, Ridley Scott, and personally, as his friend and long-time admirer, I think it is one of his most beautiful works that I have seen in recent memory ,” the actor added. “I am so extremely proud of his work, of my work and of everyone who sits here and everyone who doesn't sit here. I don’t think anyone can take that away from us.”

Gladiator II hits theaters November 22nd.