I was s***ting myself when I first met Ridley Scott… then his blunt response dismissed all my nerves, says Paul Mescal

PAUL MESCAL has revealed he was a quivering wreck at the prospect of working with film titan Sir Ridley Scott on new screen epic Gladiator II.

But the Irish actor said the legendary director simply slapped him on the back, bluntly dismissed his nerves and marched him out to the film set in Malta.

Paul, 28, who found fame in TV drama Normal People, plays arena fighter Lucius in the movie, the sequel to 2000 smash Gladiator.

Recalling how he was struck dumb as he waited to start filming his first Hollywood blockbuster when Ridley walked into his tent, Paul said: “He comes in with a cigar, and we’re all just sitting there.

“I was absolutely s**tting myself. He looks at me and he goes, ‘Are you nervous?’ and I didn’t know what the appropriate answer was, so I was like, ‘Argh’.”

Miming being slapped on the back, Paul said with a laugh: “And he was like, bang, ‘Your nerves are no f**ing good to me’.

“So he marches us out, cameras are turning over. The blessing of the troops was the first scene that we shot, and that was what we walked into.

“And I think that’s part of Ridley’s genius, where he’s like, ‘We’re on this ride together. Let’s not waste any time’.”

Paul and co-star Denzel Washington are tipped for Oscar nominations for the follow-up to the original film, which brought Russell Crowe global stardom.

Yet Paul revealed he was cast as Lucius by Ridley over a 30-minute Zoom call.

He said: “Ridley does not waste time. I thought there would be camera tests and auditions, but we Zoomed for half an hour, spoke for ten minutes about the part and then 20 minutes about Gaelic football, his dog and his wife.”

Paul transformed his body for the role with a gruelling exercise regime, even posting a video of himself looking ripped in a pair of shorts and lifting weights.

He said: “I had this naive idea at the start where I was like, ‘I’m maybe going to just play a gladiator that kind of looks normal’.

“I suppose Lucius represented something to me that I had never done before.”

Paul’s personal trainer Tim Blakeley got him ripped, but first he asked the actor to take off his clothes at their first meeting to see what work needed to be done.

‘Body parts’

Paul recalled on the Graham Norton Show: “So I’m stood there in my underwear, I’m a little bit hungover and he just starts circling me like a shark, like just processing, and he goes, ‘OK, there’s a canvas to work with’, and starts basically grading my body parts and goes, ‘The arms we’re going to struggle with’.”

Early reviews of the sequel are hailing it as the best movie of the year, and Paul agrees.

He said: “I think this film wears the legacy of the first film with intense pride and honour.

“But I think it takes it in a direction that drives that honour and respect through the roof. It’s made by the only man who could ever touch it, in Ridley Scott.

“And personally as his friend and his long admirer, I think it’s one of his finest pieces of work that I’ve seen in recent times.

“And I’m so utterly proud of his work, my work, and everybody.”

And Paul voiced his gratitude at being cast in the role.

He said: “This has totally changed my life.”