Ridley Scott Reportedly 'Unhappy' With Paul Mescal in Gladiator II

After the multi award-winning success of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator in 2000, its sequel opened late last year to rather mediocre reviews. It grossed $462.2 million worldwide from a $210 million net production budget, with the only praise surrounding Denzel Washington’s performance. New reports suggest that Scott was unhappy with his leading man, Paul Mescal, viewing him as the reason for the film’s failure.

Scott’s latest film “The Dog Stars” had its cinematic release last week and immediately bombed. It was met with poor reviews and underperformed at the box-office. The movie opened to just $19 million worldwide on what was reportedly an $89 million budget.

Mescal was originally set to star in the lead role but pulled out just before shooting began. Jacob Elordi replaced him. At the time, a scheduling conflict with Sam Mendes‘ Beatles biopic was cited, with Mescal playing Paul McCartney.

However, a new report from Puck’s Matt Belloni, via WoR, suggests there were other reasons. Sources said Scott was unhappy with Mescal following Gladiator II and felt the actor wasn’t ‘masculine enough’ for the role. Others say Mendes was annoyed at Scott for revealing Mescal’s casting early, pressuring the actor to bow out of The Dog Stars to focus on the Beatles films.

A spokesperson for Scott has since denied the reports. Setting the record straight, the spokesperson told EW:

“Not true. Ridley loves Paul and was excited to work with him on Dog Stars after having [enjoyed] such a great collaboration on Gladiator II. Sadly, Paul’s rehearsal schedule for another film prevented him from ultimately doing Ridley’s film. While he was disappointed to lose Paul, he was thrilled to get the chance to work with Jacob, who was excellent in the role.”

So, wherever this rumour came from, it’s been safely squashed by Scott’s team. What seemingly can’t be squashed, though, is Scott’s desire to make more sequels. The director recently announced plans for a sequel to Alien: Covenant with Michael Fassbender. Sigh. Watch this space…