Paul Mescal chickened out of his initial meeting with Denzel Washington on ‘Gladiator II’

It’s fair to say that Gladiator II was a big step up for its star, Paul Mescal. The actor leads an all-star cast, and during a recent appearance on The Graham Norton Show, he explained just how intimidating he found that experience to be. In fact, he was so intimidated that he chickened out of his first opportunity to meet the two-time Oscar winner.

“The first day that I was actually working with Denzel, he was up in the box, and I was rolling around fighting some monkeys or something,” Mescal explained. “At the end of the day, I was like, ‘I must go up and introduce myself to Denzel.'”

Mescal continued, saying that he worked to get himself in the right headspace for the encounter.

“I was stood at the bottom of the steps, and I stood there for a couple of minutes, and I said, ‘Not today,'” he continued. “So I bailed out and I ran to my dressing room — like, ‘Tomorrow I’m going to be a brave boy.'”

Mescal was right, and the next day the two actually got the chance to meet: “The second day, I waited at the bottom of the stairs, and I was like, ‘Just gotta stay put.’ And Denzel walks down, and it was like, ‘Oh, God, here we go.’ And he shook my hand, and it just felt extraordinary.”

Mescal added that Washington looked at him for what felt like ages before simply saying: “Stop workin’ out, man.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Washington took time to praise his younger co-star. “Let me say this: This kid delivers,” he said. “I’m a pretty good actor. I’m serious, trust me. I saw it when Russell [Crowe, star of Gladiator] did it — he delivered. This kid delivered.”

Gladiator II hits theaters on Nov. 22, 2024.