Paul Mescal had to build the gladiator physique for his lead role in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II, and the actor has revealed his training process for the movie.
In Gladiator II, Paul plays Lucius Verus, the son of Russell Crowe’s character Maximus from the original movie. Following Crowe’s legendary example, the Normal People star got ripped to look the part.
In his appearance at The Graham Norton Show, he talked about the process, saying, “It’s lots of, like, chicken breasts and heavy lifting.”
He continued: “My trainer will not mind me saying this, but my trainer is the biggest man that I have ever seen in my entire life.”
The Foe star recounted the time he met his trainer for the first time, he made him strip down to see what he was working with.
“I’m stood there in my underwear. I’m a little bit hungover, and he just starts circling me like a shark. Just processing,” Paul said. “He goes, ‘Okay. There’s a canvas to work with.’ Then starts basically grading my body parts and goes, ‘The arms we’re gonna struggle with.’”
“It’s a total first world problem,” Paul remarked of the training, noting that he had meals delivered to his room and worked with a top trainer.
He went on to reveal that he couldn’t give up smoking and drinking during the training, “I did everything he asked but I like to drink, and I like to smoke, so I drew a line in the sand where those were concerned.”
Alongside Paul Mescal, Gladiator II also stars Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington. The movie will hit theaters on November 22.
